Paul Windle OAM visited the surgery to see outgoing dentist Lee O’Neill and new dentist Arvind Chawla.

“We’ve had three generations in over 61 years, you won’t get that very often,” Dr O’Neill said. 

Dr O’Neill is semi-retiring to spend more time on his farm, but he will return to the Bega surgery to work a couple of days a week.

“I still love dentistry,” he said.

Dr Chawla has been a dentist since 2006 and moved to Bega as it is “a nice and lovely place” and reminds him of his home town – a small country town in India. 

His wife will be helping with the surgery’s business and they have a one-year-old son together. 

The Bega Dental Surgery building has contained a dentist’s surgery since the 1900s.

Dr Windle, who turns 89 this June, started working in the building in 1954 and Dr O’Neill bought the business in 1995.

There have been many changes to the building over time, such as two years ago when Dr O’Neill undertook extensive renovations. 

“But it’s still the same building, it’s still 131 Carp St,” Dr Windle said.