Sovereign Dental Open Impressive New Office at Arthur Street Marketplace
by Scott A. Sumner
The new Sovereign Dental location at Arthur Street Market Place features two attached locations totalling 10,800 square feet. Of that 4800 square feet is used for adult dentistry and the rest is dedicated to pediatric dentistry with Dr. Martesia Marshall.
Dr. Derval Clarke, dentist is the founder of Sovereign Dental which now has 4 locations.
In 2015 Sovereign Dental started their original location in Nipigon. In 2017 the location on Fort William Road near the beer store was opened. In 2019 this Fort William location was renovated to accommodate Dr. Marshall to specialize in kids dentistry. 2020 saw the Nipigon office totally renovated to brand new. In 2021 Sovereign Dental acquired a practice on Victoria Ave East and that practice was the inspiration to start this new location at Arthur Street Market place, so they could move and update that location.
The space on Fort William Road is 2965 square feet. Nipigon is about 2400 square feet and they utilize 1400 square feet. Sovereign Dental is the only dentist office in Nipigon.
“ The previous practice on Victoria Ave East was started by Dr. Robertson who was a very nice person. I hope my patients will talk as nicely about me as they still do about Dr Robertson,” said Dr. Derval Clarke. “ The old location had stairs and difficulty for parking so we wanted to move, update the location and provide more accessibility for our older patients. That was the genesis to start here at Arthur Street Marketplace. At the same time Dr Marshall was getting really busy with the children so we realized she needed her own location with more space.”
“ It was important for us to do this expansion having the previous practice of Dr. Robertson on the south side. I do hope Sovereign Dentistry is known for providing really good, compassionate care, patient centered and having their best interest.That reputation is what allows us to continue and expand.” said Derval.
“ The Canadian government has decided it is time to invest in dental care with the Canada Dental Plan. So far 2.5 million Canadians has accessed the program.The size of our new office here will allow us to accommodate new patients that have not accessed care before. We will have the capacity and compassion to serve the new patients.”
Dr. Derval Clarke is almost 40 years old and has had an interesting career path. He started in Toronto after leaving high school in Jamaica. He then went to the University of Toronto for undergraduate studies and on to Washington, DC for dental school. After that Derval went to Rochester, New York for basically a general practice residency. He then began practicing throughout Nunavut, to Timmin's and all over NW Ontario including Ear Falls, Schreiber and Nipigon.
“Some of the nicest people I ever met in my life I have met here in NW Ontario.When you meet so many people that are so kind to you, it gives you the confidence to expand. We were going to create these new offices anyway, but the timing of the new Canadian Dental Plan is also very helpful to our operation.The timing works well. This plan is expanding the number of new patients available to us. One other point to consider through is we haven't built any new dental schools or facilities to train new dental hygienists or assistants. We are going to have difficulty in getting new dentists, hygienists and assistants but we do have a facility now to accommodate new patients.”
Today Sovereign Dental, with their 4 offices, have a staff of 35 and are actively looking for an additional 15 to 20 staff including dentists.
Dr. Derval Clarke goes home to Jamaica each year for a week to provide dental care to the people there as a team. “ My mentor in dentistry started this mission and I join his team.This year we had 3 of our dental assistants go down.The team saw over 600 people in one week.”
“Building the new offices was a huge undertaking for us. RBC was a main factor in helping us do this. Aurora Construction were super helpful in competing the building which we began working on since March 2021 so there was over 3 years of planning and work. The landlord, Prime Site Properties Ltd., have been amazing to deal with,” said Derval.
“ I am still working as a dentist seeing up to 25 patients daily so it is busy. Being a dentist in NW Ontario is a very fulfilling career. The need is beyond what I have ever seen and the appreciation of the patients is excellent. The need is great here so you can expand. It is also a very safe place to conduct your dental practice.”
