In the year 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, most of Florida was without air-conditioning, Park Avenue was still often traversed by horse and buggies, and Dr. Wilbur Jennings opened the doors to his dental practice in downtown Winter Park. After graduating from Rollins College in 1929 (22 years before Fred Rogers) he spent some time selling vacuum cleaners before deciding to become a dentist. During his time at Rollins, he was one of 10 students to be selected for an exclusive club with none other than Rollins president, Hamilton Holt.

At Park Smiles Dentistry, our history is who we are. Our predecessors, Dr. Wilbur Jennings and Dr. Alan Price, both had great reputations which led to our success today. Good old fashioned word of mouth. Some of our patients are very influential in Winter Park today and it always fascinates me to think about who Dr. Jennings may have treated. Fred Rogers? Hugh and Jeannette McKean? Albin Polasek? Hamilton Holt, perhaps? All of these people lived in Winter Park while our practice was here. While we may never know if they were patients, we do know that our history is entwined with Winter Parks.

Dr. Jennings unknowingly made sure of that when he raised his family in what would become the now famous Winter Park home, the Capen House. The Capen House was built by one of Winter Parks founders, James Capen. Dr. Jennings was the homes longest owner (46 years.) In 2013, it was cut in half and moved across Lake Osceola to be saved from demolition.

Dr. Jennings had a role in shaping the landscape of downtown Winter Park as it stands today. In 1956, he sold the small cottage that our dental practice called home and built the New England Building. At the time, it was built to be a medical facility, housing doctors, dentists and a pharmacy. It was the first of its kind in the area and served locals for many years. It still sits on the corner of New England and Knowles Avenues today.

About a decade later, he constructed another building in Downtown Winter Park on the corner or Knowles and Welbourne Avenues. This is where Dr. Alan Price spent most of his career as a dentist and it is where our dental practice resided until 2019.

Following in Dr. Jennings footsteps, I built the fourth and final home of Park Smiles Dentistry on Fairbanks Avenue next to 4 Rivers Smokehouse. While its trendy these days for dental offices to sell out to corporations, we wont do that. We have no gimmicks. Just honest people working hard to give you an easy trip to the dentist. While corporations focus on their profits first, we focus on people first. Thats how our founder was in 1939 and thats how we are today. It was with those core principles that we set out to design our new office.

My wife, Julie, is an interior designer and we combined her design expertise with my passion for making dentistry easy to create a dental office which feels nothing like a dental office. We are very proud of it and we want to share it with our neighbors because we believe it is the type of dental office that Winter Park deserves.

We added all of the technologies and comfortable amenities that you would expect from a Park Ave business. For example, all of our dental chairs have massagers built into them and Apple TVs above them with noise canceling headphones. This way you could watch a movie or TV show while having your teeth cleaned. We also have a relaxation room with a masseuse grade massage chair and essential oils throughout the office. We have a family room for busy parents to reserve for their kids to wait during dental visits. We also have a photo studio for before and after shots of patients who are getting cosmetic smile makeovers done.

We have put a personal touch on every part of the dental experience to change the way that people think about and experience dental visits. We also put thought into giving the design a local touch. Each treatment room has a different Winter Park theme with photos that Ive personally taken. For example, we have a Park Ave room, a Rollins College room and a Kraft Azalea Gardens room.

With our new home, we aim to do good for the community. It is our mission to host a free dental day once a year for those who are less fortunate. We also hope to use the facility to host community events and fundraisers in order to give back to the community which has given us so much.

At Park Smiles Dentistry, we have the best team in town. When hiring, we actively look for nice, gentle people who love what they do. This makes our office more enjoyable for our patients and for us. Our team is so dedicated to always improving the quality of your care that we shut the whole office down once every week for training and continuing education. At the end of the day, we wouldnt be who we are if it wasnt for our team. We spoil them so they can spoil you.

Dr. Drew Byrnes is a family and cosmetic dentist and a Central Florida native. He was born in Winter Park, FL and grew up in Altamonte Springs. He is a proud alumnus of Bishop Moore Catholic High School. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Florida with a degree in Integrative Biology and then graduated from the University of Florida College of Dentistry. Dr. Byrnes believes in treating people the way that he would want to be treated.

Dr. Byrnes is a member of the American Dental Association, the Florida Dental Association, the Dental Society of Greater Orlando and the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce. He always exceeds the required amount of continuing education courses for dentists because he believes in lifelong education. He is also certified in Invisalign, nitrous oxide administration and CPR.

When he is not in the office, Dr. Byrnes can be found spending his time running around Park Avenue as he trains for his half marathons or volunteering his time at one of the ministries at his local church. He has been on mission trips to Honduras and Guatemala. Dr. Byrnes is married to his lovely wife Julie, who is an interior designer and helped to design our dental office. They met while in school at the University of Florida. They are happily married with kids.

Dr. Erik Holz is a general dentist and a long time Central Florida resident. He grew up in Windermere and is a proud alumnus of Dr. Phillips High Schools Visual and Performing Arts program. He completed his undergraduate studies at Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Architecture. Wanting to use his hands more to help people directly, Dr. Holz went back to the University of Central Florida to earn his science prerequisites, ultimately graduating from the University of Florida College of Dentistry with a Doctor of Dental Medicine. Following dental school Dr. Holz spent two years completing an Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency from the University of Florida in St. Petersburg. Dr. Holz believes in achieving every patients goal with the least amount of dentistry, in a safe, comfortable environment.

Dr. Holz is a member of the American Dental Association, the Florida Dental Association, the Academy of General Dentistry, and the International Congress of Oral Implantologists. Dr. Holz is a strong proponent of continuing education and is committed to providing patients with the latest research in dental care. Dr. Holz is certified in oral sedation, nitrous oxide sedation, and advanced and basic cardiac life support.

When he is not in the office Dr. Holz can be found around Central Florida scuba diving for prehistoric teeth. Dr. Holz has also spent time volunteering on dental mission trips to the Dominican Republic.