From the Business Desk ... Dentistry practices get started in new digs

In this, I thought I'd offer a few "bites" of information about a pair of dental practices opening on Mount Auburn Road in Cape Girardeau. In addition, I'll give you something to "chew" on about Tooth Fairy economics.

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Westrock Orthodontics, 1267 N. Mount Auburn Road.

After several months of renovation and remodeling, the former offices of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, 1267 N. Mount Auburn Road, have been repurposed as the new home of Westrock Orthodontics, which opened there last Tuesday. The building's interior has been completely redone and it bears no resemblance at all to the chamber offices.

Dr. Nathan McGuire and Westrock Orthodontics were previously located at 1736 Broadway where the practice was once know as Crowe & McGuire Orthodontics LLC.

Formed in 2015, Westrock Orthodontics consists of more than 40 orthodontic practices in Missouri and Arkansas and came about through the blending of two groups of dental practices in both states. The name "Westrock" refers to the locations where the groups originated, West Plains, Missouri, and Little Rock, Arkansas.

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Bennett Family Dentistry, 989 N. Mount Auburn Road.

Two blocks south of the Westrock practice is the new home of Bennett Family Dentistry at 989 N. Mount Auburn Road.

Bennett Family Dentistry has been at 1200 N. Cape Rock Drive since 1983, in a building that once served as the home of Cape Bible Chapel. The practice will be transitioning this week to the new location and will begin seeing patients there next week.

With 21 state-of-the-art treatment rooms, the new Bennett location is significantly larger than the North Cape Rock Drive office and features an open floor plan, a coffee bar, an in-house lab and exam chairs that have a massage and heat options to help patients relax.

Founded by Dr. Michael Bennett, the practice currently has three dentists, including Bennett's son, Dr. Ross Bennett, along with Drs. Ashley Blattner and Blake Essner. The practice also has eight hygienists, five of whom are full-time.

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Infographic courtesy of Delta Dental

As for Tooth Fairy economics, Delta Dental released new findings last week from its annual "Tooth Fairy Poll" showing there's been a 33-cent increase in the Tooth Fairy's average cash gift over the past year. The average payout for a baby tooth is now $4.03, up from $3.70 a year ago.

Delta Dental has been analyzing the Tooth Fairy's annual giving trends since 1998, and over the past 22 years, the price-per-tooth has more than tripled. Back then, the average amount kids found under their pillow was $1.30.

Believe it or not, Delta Dental's poll of Tooth Fairy prices has mirrored Standard & Poor's 500 Index (the S&P 500) for 15 of the past 18 years.

The most profitable section of the country for exchanging teeth for Tooth Fairy cash is the Northeast, where the average monetary gift for a lost tooth is $4.35. Although the average payout in the Midwest has jumped 74 cents in the last 12 months, it's still significantly lower than the national average at $3.71 per tooth.

Delta Dental conducted its Tooth Fairy Poll between Dec. 30 and Jan. 11, and questioned 1,000 parents of children between the ages of 6 and 12.

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Several people have asked me recently about activity at the former Region's Bank branch at 101 S. Mount Auburn Road. I've been curious myself, so I stopped by one day last week to resolve the mystery.

I walked in to what was once the bank's lobby and found Doug Watson, president and CEO of MRV Banks, working in a corner office. Turns out MRV acquired the building in September, remodeled parts of it, and by late last year, had converted it into MRV Banks' administrative center.

Doug gave me a tour of the two-level building, which, over the years, has been a branch of several financial institutions including Cape County Bank, Union Planters Bank and, most recently, Region's Bank.

MRV is using the lower level for some of its back-shop operations and may add additional offices in what is now a storage area. A conference room on the lower level features a massive board table crafted in the 1980s by HAVCO Wood Products and resembling the composite trailer floors manufactured by that company.

Doug told me MRV is considering some optional uses for the upper level and may at some point add drive-through or telebanking functions to the facility.

In addition to Cape Girardeau, MRV Banks has two other Missouri locations, in Ste. Genevieve and Festus.

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McDonald's has designated today, March 2, as National Egg McMuffin Day and is giving away Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwiches between 6 and 10:30 a.m. to anyone who has downloaded McDonald's free mobile app.

Coincidentally, today also happens to be the day Wendy's introduces its new breakfast menu across the nation.

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