When John McGoohan cracked a tooth on a chicken wing one Sunday, he called Dr. Dennis Mohney’s cell phone and the dentist responded to his emergency.
“He’s the best,” said Ileana McGoohan about Mohney, who is retiring after caring for patients in Miami Lakes for 47 years.
“We’re just so happy for him, but at the same time, we’re upset,” Ileana McGoohan said about the daunting task of finding a dentist who will make her family feel as cared for as they felt with Mohney.
Mohney, 76, of Coconut Grove, said everybody told him that he would know when it was time to retire.
“It’s been a great career,” Mohney said on Aug. 23 about his 50 years in dentistry. It was a week before he was to close his office, at 15600 NW 67th Ave.
He trained in Chicago and practiced there for three years before moving to Miami Lakes in 1976.
His first office was in the Lake Patricia Shopping Center where Domenico’s Italian Restaurant is today.
Then he moved into an office building on Eagle Nest Lane behind Publix.
“I was surrounded by pasture,” Mohney said.
“Sometimes I would come to work and there would be cows who broke out and were in the parking lot. They were harmless but they do take up a parking spot.”
In the 1980s, Mohney said there was just one other dentist in town.
As he began treating residents, he got to know their families, and marked life’s milestones along with them.
“I have many families where I’ve seen three generations, and at least one where I’ve seen four generations,” he said. “I know all the stories about their families, and I’ve watched their kids grow up and go to college and have kids.
“It feels wonderful,” he said. “I feel like part of the family.”
Reflecting upon his career, Mohney said he achieved his main goal: “Working in a suburb, in a nice community, doing the dentistry I wanted to do.”
He lived in town for about a decade, was a charter member of the Athletic Club and a regular on the racquetball courts.
His plans include pursuing his hobbies: Exercise and playing keyboards and guitar.
“I’m just going to try to stay fit, stay healthy, keep busy,” he said.
After all, his daughter, her husband and his four grandchildren live nearby, and he wants to spend time with them.
Until then, “I will miss my patients,” Mohney said. “There has been a lot of hugging going on.”