A LOXTON dentist is saying goodbye to the town he has worked and lived in for 37 years to return to his Adelaide roots.
Dr Mark Moore, from the Loxton Dental Practice, is set to leave the Riverland this month after obtaining another opportunity in the city he grew up in.
Mr Moore said he has loved living and working in the Riverland, but returning to Adelaide has always been on the cards.
“I think when I first moved here, I thought I might be here for three to five years,” he said.
“Then with my kids, we thought when they were in high school we might move back to Adelaide, but nothing ever happened.
“So really, it was always (the plan) that eventually we would end back up in Adelaide.”
Mr Moore moved to Loxton in 1983 after completing his dental degree at the University of Adelaide the year prior.
He said a full-time position at the Loxton Dental Practice was the first job he was offered, and with many of his peers having to scour for jobs interstate, the decision was a “no-brainer”.
“Back when I did graduate, there were very few full-time positions available in South Australia,” Mr Moore said.
“At least a third of (my peers in) my year, either went overseas or interstate to get jobs.
“So, I was interviewed by the two dentists who were in Loxton at the time and I got offered the job.
“I wanted to work as a dentist and here I was being offered a full-time position, so it was bit of a no-brainer.
“The idea of moving to the country wasn’t something that worried me at all.”
Mr Moore said country practitioners often have to become proficient at most aspects of dentistry because there are no specialists nearby.
“I know there’s a lot of city dentists who don’t do extractions because they don’t have the expertise to do something, and they always refer someone on to an oral surgeon probably within the next suburb or not very far away,” he said.
“You learn to take on things and go to courses where you can then offer a service back to people in the Riverland, where they don’t have to travel to Adelaide to have that work done.
“So you go and do some courses about it and learn how to do it, and you keep the ones you want to do and the ones that feel more complicated, you then get specialists involved.
“The things you usually get involved with are the things you have an interest in – you know that they can add value to the service you provide to people in the country.”
Apart of that service for Mr Moore was opening the Waikerie dental practice with a colleague in 1998.
He has since divided his time between working in Waikerie one day out of the week and in Loxton the other four to service more people in the Riverland area.
“The dentist in Waikerie left three or four years prior to that – Waikerie actually didn’t have a dentist at the time,” Mr Moore said.
“We were seeing quite a high number of Waikerie people coming up to Loxton, or Berri and Barmera, to see a dentist.
“Over time, no one seemed to be interested in having a practice in Waikerie so the young dentist and I thought ‘Well, let’s set it up’ with the mentality that we were providing a service to our existing patients, and we’re setting up a service to Waikerie as well.
“I probably don’t have the familiarity of people down in Waikerie because I’ve always lived in Loxton, but it’s been good to offer that service.”
Mr Moore said he has had some time to transition into leaving both practices, but he will miss the Riverland and the community he has built here.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time living in the Riverland,” he said.
“My kids went to Loxton High School, which was great for them, and the Loxton community has been great to live in all this time.
“I have maintained a bit of a foothold in Adelaide – I have lots of friends in Adelaide – so the transition to moving back there won’t be too difficult.
“(But) I certainly don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything living here, and there’s certainly aspects of living here – even working here – that I’ll miss for sure.”