LEE, Mass. — A new dental practice is focused solely on ensuring Berkshire County children have bright smiles.
Husband and wife duo Drs. Muhammed Saif and Myra Jehangir, both board-certified pediatric dentists, will open Peak Smiles Pediatric Dentistry on March 2.
They had been working at a dental office in Chicopee when they realized many families were coming from the county to see them.
"We saw a vast majority of patients. And what we noticed pretty quickly was there was a huge need in the Berkshire County, because a lot of our patients were actually commuting from Pittsfield, North Adams, Great Barrington, to get to our office in Chicopee," Saif said.
They decided to open an office in Lee, feeling it was a middle point in the county for the patients they were seeing.
They obtained the space in June and began the transformation into a dental office. The only challenge was a plumbing issue that has since been fixed.
Saif trained at New York University's College of Dentistry and did his residencies at NYU Langone Dental Medicine and Johns Hopkins. Jehangir graduated from the University of Maryland, and did her residencies at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, and NYU Langone Health in Holyoke.
They currently practice in New York's Hudson Valley and live in Albany. They loved their time in Western Massachusetts and knew they would like to work here again.
"We did enjoy our time in Western Mass, which is why when this space opened up, my husband was really excited," Jehangir said. "Everything just worked out in our favor — the space was big enough, like we could put the seven chairs that we wanted — and then Massachusetts was just somewhere he really likes, so we wanted to be here."
They are credentialed at Berkshire Medical Center and will be taking patients there once they have gained their footing.
"Once we get the systems down, we'll be scheduling patients to get, like, full-mouth dental treatment if they need it," Saif said. "If they're like, superanxious, they're superyoung, they have a lot of dental care needs in the hospital system. We'll be doing cases."
Saif has focused on innovative treatments for children and patients with special needs in his practice. He said he does his best to accommodate everyone and wants children to feel safe in his care.
"We're here to make sure that your child keeps smiling and has good oral care," the dentist said.
The practice is currently accepting patients, including walk-ins and emergencies.
Hours will be every Monday and every other Saturday, with plans to expand later this summer. The office is located at 35 Canal St.
Editor's note: an earlier version of this article mischaracterized the use of nitrous oxide, which is a safe and commonly used sedative used in pediatric dentistry.
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Great Barrington Pulls Away Late for 12-Year-Old Little League Tourney Win
By Ben McDonoughFor iBerkshires.com Sports
DALTON, Mass. – Great Barrington’s 12U All-Stars broke open a tightly contested game with a dominant fourth inning, scoring eight runs to pull away for a mercy-rule victory over Lanesborough in District 1 tournament action.
For three innings, both teams leaned on outstanding pitching as runs were difficult to come by.
Great Barrington’s Tyler Warren set the tone immediately on the mound, striking out Noah Higgins and Alton Kryskow before inducing a groundout from Allan Salguero to retire the side in order during the opening inning. Lanesborough answered with a strong first inning of its own as Rowan Higgins worked around the top of Great Barrington’s lineup with a groundout and a pair of strikeouts.
Warren continued to dominate in the second, striking out Shaurya Patel and Liam Flaherty while escaping a two-out baserunner after William Truskowski reached on a dropped third strike. Axiel Colon was retired on another strikeout to end the frame.
Great Barrington broke through first in the bottom of the second. Harlan Kohler reached on an infield single before aggressively stealing both second and third base. After a pop out, Ezekiel McLaughlin followed with an infield RBI single to give Great Barrington a 1-0 lead.
The pitchers remained in command through the third inning. Warren struck out Jackson Inman and Ema Salguero around a groundout, while Lanesborough brought Allan Salguero to the mound, where he recorded strikeouts of Julian Winters and Owen Saunders. Weston Tremont reached after being hit by a pitch, but the inning ended on a groundout.
Lanesborough grabbed the lead in the top of the fourth. Noah Higgins opened with a single before Great Barrington turned an impressive 4-6-3 double play. After Allan Salguero was hit by a pitch, Shaurya Patel delivered the game’s biggest swing to that point, launching a two-run home run to put Lanesborough ahead 2-1. Warren bounced back by recording another strikeout to end the inning.
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