Greetings to all of you. This is Dr. Melton with some news for you regarding our practice, Starlight Dental Care.

I use the term “our practice”, because I’ve never considered it to be “my practice”. I have shared this wonderful place with my team members, most notably Jenine and Lori, both of whom have been with me since 2005 when we opened in our Moriches location, as well as Lisa, my incredible Saturday hygienist who has been here more than 10 years, and some of you probably remember my mom, Mary, who was so instrumental in the early days as we opened.  Perhaps most importantly, we have also shared this practice with you, our amazing patients and friends, many of you who have been with us since the inception.

The news might be a bit difficult to hear, but we will be closing our Manorville location, as we have lost some irreplaceable team members recently. Wendy, my long time assistant has retired to be with her growing family, and now our superb office manager Lori is going to be retiring to tend to her family. On a personal note, I will say also that I’ve worked 6 days a week for nearly twenty years (even though I told my wife I would do it for only five years), and I am ready to slow it down a bit.

Here’s the good news. For those that want to stick with us, I will be continuing to work from my office in Mattituck 4 to 5 days a week. Yes I know it’s a bit of a drive, about ten minutes east of Riverhead, but it’s a beautiful area and my team in Mattituck is excellent (we have won "Dan’s Best of the Best" North Fork Dentist for four years straight). They work with the same insurance plans, and the office is run in a very similar manner to Starlight. And perhaps the best news is that Jenine will be coming out to Mattituck with me, so you can all rest assured that you’ll be able to continue with your favorite hygienist. One last item, for those of you with pediatric patients who see my associate, Dr Silvia Baker, she also works with me in the Mattituck location on Fridays and sees mostly pediatric patients.

Now I understand that this drive might not be feasible for all of you, and I tried very hard to work out another option for those of you who wish to stay local. Unfortunately I was unable to work out any type of deal with another practice that would be willing to take on our patients. However, there are a number of excellent providers close to our area, and any patient who wishes to remain local can be confident that all records will be forwarded to the dentist you choose.

Unfortunately, I will no longer be working weekends, as my Mattituck office does not open for Saturdays at this time, but I am lobbying for Saturday hours in the future. I’m hoping that we can accommodate those of you who want Saturdays into later weekday appointments for the time being, with the hope that Saturdays will open in the future.

I can imagine that many of you might have questions as we begin to transition over, but I would ask you to have patience. The phones will be ringing off the hook, and we will try to put in additional hours to answer all of your questions. It’s early on in the process, but I am working with a reputable company to help us with the move. Our last day in the Manorville location will be May 15, but try not to overwhelm us with phone calls just yet. We will be calling you on a rolling basis as we begin to transition, so just bear with us as we move along the calendar to later dates.  If you have an appointment scheduled in later May or June, you will be among the first people contacted.

For those who want to look into our office in Mattituck, check us out on Google.

Total Dental Care of Mattituck

7905 Main Road

Mattituck, NY 11952

(631)298-2000

TDCMattituck.com

- Dr. Melton