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October 21, 2024
GREENVILLE – In order for Westhill Dental to expand its services, Owner and Dentist Trenton Paffenroth said it had to expand its footprint.
That recognition, he said, is becoming a reality as construction of a new, 7,562-square-foot, ground-up dental office is underway in Greenville.
With an anticipated completion of spring 2025, Paffenroth said the new office will include more than just additional square footage – it will allow Westhill Dental to continue its comprehensive approach to dental care.
A slight pivot
Paffenroth said the project started as a renovation of Westhill Dental’s current office at N1734 Lily of the Valley Drive.
“For the better part of a year, I was designing a renovation for the existing building,” he said. “And at the eleventh hour before I was set to sign the paperwork and say, ‘Okay, let’s do this,’ I had a hard conversation with my contractor about whether or not we were actually getting everything that we were after because we were making some compromises to try to renovate the existing building.”
Following that conversation, Paffenroth said the decision was made to pivot, and they started to look at other options with a ground-up project.
“We found some potential areas and then ported the renovation design over into a brand new office,” he said.
Located about a five-minute drive from its current location, Paffenroth said Westhill Dental’s new office (W6261 Neubert Road) will be double the size.
“This expansion will allow us to further serve Greenville and the surrounding communities with our expanded services practice,” he said. “It’s a pretty prominent location, right off Highway 15 – a lot of people see it. We’ve created a little bit of a buzz – so, it’s been fun.”
Though not keen on the phrase one-stop shop, Paffenroth said the additional space in the new office will allow Westhill Dental to provide just that.
“Our practice is unique in that we offer most dental services under one roof,” he said. “We try not to send people all over the region for dental procedures – we try to get all their dental care completed in our facility.”
The Lily of the Valley Drive location, Paffenroth said, was constricted.
“We have three doctors in our practice and there isn’t a lot of room,” he said. “There’s not a lot of parking. It’s the little things you don’t necessarily think about.”
The additional square footage, Paffenroth said, will also allow Westhill Dental to further its sedation dentistry services.
“We have surgery suites,” he said. “We have different levels of anesthesia we can offer and the patient experience is geared more toward comfort and taking care of the fearful patient.”
Having the “best of the best” in technology, amenities and offerings, Paffenroth said, is another added benefit of the new space.
“(We have) TVs on the ceilings so it’s a more relaxing environment,” he said.
Paffenroth said Westhill Dental utilizes state-of-the-art technologies and delivers advanced services, such as IV moderate sedation, general anesthesia sedation, same-day All-on-X dental implants, 3D printed denture prosthetics and sleep apnea appliances.
“We also offer orthodontics, endodontics and many oral surgery procedures,” he said. “We’ve always been a very technology-forward practice, but we’re really doubling down on that with this new build.”
Knew from an early age
Growing up in his dad’s dental clinic, Trenton Paffenroth said he knew he planned to follow in his father’s footsteps quite early in life.
“I grew up working in my father’s practice – not as a dentist but as a dental assistant, or just helping out in sterilization as a sterile tech,” he said. “I got to know a lot of his patients. I still see many of them in my practice.”
His dad’s clinic – Westhill Dental – was located on Westhill Boulevard in Appleton.
When he first graduated from dental school, Paffenroth said the plan was for him to join his father’s dental practice, which he did.
“Then about seven or eight years ago, there was an opportunity to purchase the practice in Greenville – and I ended up opening Westhill Dental Greenville,” he said.
Greenville proud
When the renovation project shifted to a new build, Paffenroth said he knew he wanted the clinic to remain in Greenville.
“I’ve always enjoyed the community,” he said. “It has a small-town feel – there is a good community spirit, and we felt like it was a good idea to stay in the area. A lot of our patients have been long-time patients, and we’ve gotten to know them well.”
Paffenroth said it was important to him that they didn’t create the barrier of having to drive to another community to receive care.
As concrete is poured and walls begin to take shape at the new office, Paffenroth said he’s excited to watch the project come to life.
“I’ve always liked to create things – so to see your design and your vision, which has been in the back of your mind for the better part of a decade, start to come to fruition is pretty exciting,” he said. “Actually seeing the walls go up and standing within the framing, you start to visualize all the things you’ve been thinking about and obsessing over for the last three years.”
The reaction from the community and Westhill Dental patients of the new office, Paffenroth said, has been that of excitement.
“I mean, we’ve had people parking on our grass for probably a year now,” he said. “So, it was a welcome change when we started to let people know – letting them know, ‘we understand, we hear you and we’re taking the steps to expand and make it a better patient experience and create more space.’”
The move
When the new office is ready to go, Paffenroth said he plans to hang onto the current facility “right now.”
“I’m interested in potentially leasing or selling it – looking at lots of different options at this point,” he said.
Next spring, Paffenroth said the move from the current facility to the new one will shut the clinic down for a couple of weeks.
“We expect to probably be down for a couple of weeks – but in the grand scheme of things, this is one of those areas that we thought that the new build was going to be a much better option than trying to renovate,” he said. “In our renovation plan, we would have been shut down for a couple of months. So, this was certainly a better choice.”
The new office, Paffenroth said, will provide the space Westhill Dental currently needs to meet the needs of its patients, but also have room to grow.
“We have enough space built in for this new office to continue to grow and expand and serve the community,” he said. “My goal is to continue to improve our patient experience and continue to expand offerings.”
