Scotch Road splits in two as it winds north from Interstate 95. The west fork takes travelers into terrain that could be mistaken for Vermont — and straight to the office of dentist Dr. Cynthia Purtuc.
But one should not be fooled by the rustic location: the office, which is attached to the home Purtuc shares with husband Dr. Sorin Purtuc and their three children, is as modern as they come. The facility has multiple exam rooms, a hygienist’s room and even an onsite lab where crowns, dentures, mouthguards and more are fabricated.
The walls of Purtuc Dental, LLC are lined with album covers and vinyl records, decorations left by Dr. Jeffrey Rodney, who had previously owned the office and home. The Purtucs bought both from Rodney in 2013, taking over the practice in the process.
Sorin Purtuc is an endodontist, and while he and Cynthia have been sharing the practice, this month he plans to open a separate practice at 245 S. Main St.: Pennington Endodontics LLC. He still plans to be doing root canals for Cynthia’s patients once a week at the current office.
The path Cynthia Purtuc took to becoming a dentist is as unusual as the road that leads to her office. A native of Beijing, she studied Japanese and marketing in China before moving to Japan to utilize her language and business training. From there she moved to Canada, then on to Boston where she earned a master’s degree in computer science. She spent six years as a software engineer before deciding to make another career change.
“I wanted a job where I worked with people,” she said. “My sister (who was in the U.S.) was a dentist, and my mother was a physician. They convinced me I could do it.”
So she moved to Philadelphia to pursue her new dream. She earned her D.M.D. in 2010, and worked in a group practice in the Philadelphia area before striking out on her own last year. She met Sorin at Temple University, where they were both studying dentistry. His parents were also dentists. They have three children, ages 7, 5 and 1, the elder two of whom attend Hopewell schools.
Purtuc Dental offers a full range of services, from preventative care to restorative dentistry. The onsite lab where restorations such as crowns and dentures are made is an unusual feature. Certified dental technician Mike D’Agostino has been with the practice for 19 years.
Dr. Purtuc said most dentists have restorations made at commercial labs offsite. Many of those labs are overseas, which means there is typically a delay from the time a patient is fit for a crown or dentures and the time they are ready to be put in place.
The onsite lab means the wait time is significantly reduced. Certain procedures or adjustments can be made in the same visit.
“When patients come in for a crown, we can, for instance, color match it right away,” D’Agostino said. “If a patient has broken dentures, at most offices they’d have to wait three days. But we usually can do the work while the patient waits.”
Dr. Purtuc also said she has more peace of mind knowing the restorations are made in house because she and her staff know that the materials they are made of are to specifications. Having control of the raw materials also allows more latitude in doing quality custom work and repairs.
At Purtuc Dental, they have also recently begun offering digital X-rays, which she says significantly reduce radiation exposure compared to filmed X-rays.
Purtuc is an active member of the American Dental Association, the New Jersey Dental Association and the Mercer Dental Society, as is her husband. She is also certified on Invisalign (an alternative to braces) and implant surgery. She doesn’t offer implant services now, but is interested in offering them in the future.
“It’s really important as a dentist to be sincere, to really understand how the patients feel about having their teeth worked on,” Purtuc said. “I feel a lot of compassion for them. I think they appreciate that.”
The address of Purtuc Dental is 560 W. Scotch Road, Pennington. Phone: (609) 737-1157. On the Web: purtucdentalcare.com.
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