Capital Region Business Journal

Three generations have worked at a dental practice on Park Street, a common thread for a business that has undergone sweeping changes to keep up with the times.

Loren Giswold started the business at 621 S. Park St. around 1950, moving his Downtown practice that he had started in 1948.

Eventually, his son Bill joined the business in 1967. This January, Bill Giswold's daughter, Kathy Giswold, 31, jumped in after working in Portland, Ore.

"What an opportunity for me, prior to him retiring, to get that knowledge," she said.

Loren Giswold was born in Grantsburg where he started in dentistry, first working for his uncle, Robert Giswold. Later he worked in Greenwood and the Navy.

When he eventually established the dental office on South Park Street, he practiced in a building shared by three medical doctors: Gordy Garnett, John Van Gemert and Charlie Larkin.

After Bill Giswold joined the business, the father and son worked together for 12 years before the senior Giswold retired. Then in 1996, Bill Giswold joined with Brad Byce and Gary Conger to form a practice called First Choice Dental Group.

Shortly afterward, the business began to expand to other locations and now includes seven offices in Fitchburg, Madison, Middleton and Verona. An office is planned for Sun Prairie next year and the goal is to open 10 offices.

In 2001, First Choice Dental moved into a new office next door to the old South Park Street office, which was torn down. The office went from 1,900 to 4,200 square feet and from six to 10 dental chairs. Giswold wishes he would have done it sooner.

The new construction drew attention because of a decision to build the office building's parking lot around the funky little Park Street Shoe Repair shop, a two-generation business now operated by George Fabian.

Bill Giswold, 64, didn't start out expecting to follow in his father's footsteps. After working in the UW-Madison horticulture department during summers as a high school student, the 6-foot-6 Giswold got a basketball scholarship to Florida State University where he studied history and took business courses. At one point, he considered medical school.

But it was in his junior year that he realized he wasn't interested in history or attending medical school so he turned to what he had seen growing up: dentistry.

"There are a lot of Giswolds in the dental business," he said, referring to his father and other relatives who have practiced dentistry.

After getting an undergraduate degree in history in 1963, Giswold entered dental school at Marquette University in Milwaukee and, after graduating in 1967, went into practice with his father.

"I loved it," he said. "I have always liked to work with my hands and I consider myself quite mechanical. ... I'm one of these guys who never reads the directions. I just pick it up and put it together."

"Where else could you make a very good living working with people?" he said. "It's a social hour for me every day."

When Giswold went into the dental business, he discovered his father was not up-to-date in his pricing. For example, he charged $15 for a root canal, a low price even for the late 1960s.

His father quoted one customer $125 for a three-tooth bridge but the lab work alone cost $128.50.

Besides pricing, the Giswolds also had to work out a way to split the bills and how they got paid.

The senior Giswold also decided to continue to do his own lab work while his son decided to send his out so he could concentrate on the other aspects of dentistry.

The biggest part of the success of a dental business is developing trusting, personal relationships with patients, Giswold said.

First Choice Dental also has tried to keep up with the latest technology such as a device that allows patients to see their teeth on a TV.

Creating the group practice was important to the success of the business, and Giswold said he regrets not making the decision to do that sooner. It allows the partners to share expenses, on-call hours and employees, who can be moved around when someone is on leave. The number of employees is about 130, which allows the practice to offer group health insurance and better benefits, including an employee bonus program.

"It's really allowed us to have better employees," said Giswold, who works out of the South Park Street office.

As the practice has grown - First Choice Dental has nearly 30,000 patients � it has become possible to support an orthodontist and a periodontist.

Kathy Giswold, the youngest of the four Giswold children, worked at the dental office in the summers as an assistant, as did other siblings. At 5 feet, 10 inches, she also shares a love of basketball with her father. They both were selected to Wisconsin All-State teams.

She also was trained as a dental assistant during breaks and summers during her years at UW-Madison before she went to dental school.

All of this helped her see what the business entailed. She liked the relationships her father formed with patients and has seen them become friends over time. She also saw how his work could change their lives.

Kathy Giswold, who has performed dental work for children in Jamaica and Vietnam, also has seen how she can change others' lives.

"I felt this fit into the way I wanted to live my life," said Kathy Giswold, whose fianc�, Doug Ferris, is a root-canal specialist. "Dentistry is a way to help people."

Their roots are firmly planted in dentistry

By Pamela Cotant

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