After 14 years running her own dental practice in Bermuda, dentist Kianna Simmons is leaving.

The Bermudian moved her family to Tennessee three years ago, and has been attempting to sell Kerin Oral Care on Southcourt Avenue, Paget, ever since.

She has travelled between the two, working in both offices.

“Someone else was supposed to take over in March, but it did not work out,” she said. “At the end of May, I decided I would have to close.”

However, another party has now expressed interest in purchasing the business, and they are in negotiations.

Whatever happens, September 30 is Dr Simmons’s last day. The two hygienists on staff plan to retire.

“Leaving is bittersweet,” Dr Simmons said. “It feels very surreal.”

The practice was originally started by dentist Robert Gibbons in 1963.

“In the time since we announced we would be closing, many patients have told me they have been coming here since they were children,” Dr Simmons said. “Generations have gone to this office.”

When she took over in 2009, she had just finished her residency for her speciality in oral medicine.

“I came back to the island because my grandfather was sick and I wanted to help my dad take care of him,” she said.

Her plan back then was to work in Bermuda for five years and then go back to the United States. She worked as a locum for several different local dentists until Dr Gibbons offered her an associateship.

“Within four or five months of me being here, he asked me if I wanted to buy the business,” Dr Simmons said. “I still had school loans, and knew nothing about running a business, but he helped me work everything out.”

Dr Gibbons was supposed to stay on for two years, but instead stayed for another decade, celebrating his 50th year in dentistry in 2013.

“He retired when the pandemic came along,” Dr Simmons said. “He and his wife, Dorothy, have been such a great support to me. I was feeling like I let him down by closing Kerin, but he has even encouraged me with my move to Tennessee.”

Her biggest challenge during her years running Kerin Oral Care has been keeping up with the ever-changing healthcare landscape, especially as a sole practitioner.

“There is room for growth and development in our healthcare system, and I think there are changes that need to be made,” she said.

Dr Simmons has sometimes felt disrespected as a professional by those in control of Bermuda’s healthcare system.

“They sometimes see professionals as being money-driven, instead of having care and concern for our patients,” she said. “Decisions have been made without really understanding the cost of care, and how to facilitate that in the best way. Some of the changes in the healthcare system, I have seen, could have been carried out more smoothly.”

She now works as the managing clinical director at a practice in Ooltewah, Tennessee, an hour out of Chattanooga.

“I have autonomy, but I work for another dentist who owns the practice, and it has been nice,” she said. “It has been different. I am getting used to having to put in for things like vacation.”

The dentist is also loving being able to use technology and equipment that would be difficult and expensive to obtain in Bermuda.

“I have been able to develop my skills,” she said. “I can do things like full reconstructive surgery right now.”