The star dentist

Half a century ago, when a friend told Dr. William A. Sy Ting Pang, now 80, he placed tenth in the dental board exams, he was incredulous.

Memorization was not his forte.  But Dr. William was extremely skilled in the practical aspect (making molds, fitting dentures, doing surgery, etc.), thus the unexpected honor.

“I love working with my hands,” he says.  As a child in Manila, he frequented auto repair shops, fiddling with engines and car parts, figuring out how things work, taking them apart and putting them back on again.  Little did he know that this pastime would be an ideal preparation for his lifetime career.

Dr. William’s parents ran a hardware store, but he wanted to be a doctor.  He took a pre-med course at the Far Eastern University, but during his second year in medicine school later, the reality hit him.

“In the hospital, I saw patients clinging on to life, some screaming in pain.  If I became a medical doctor, then life or death would be in my hands.  I could not bear the thought.”

He left medicine for dentistry.  “Teeth were simpler.  I would still heal people, but rarely would problems escalate to extremes.”

At the University of the East (UE), Dr. William excelled in laboratory work, which his younger son Dr. Walter “Wally” Sy, 49, would also do well in.

Dr. William finished lab requirements ahead of everyone, and once, fascinated by a class on dentures, he sneaked over to visit the class, reasoning that he had already completed his assigned work.  His professor, Dr. Lucina Ejercito Goitia, was not amused.

“Dr. Goitia turned out to be the best teacher I ever had,” says Dr. William.  When his parents could not attend the awarding for his board honors, Dr. Goitia substituted for them.

Dr. Goitia recommended that Dr. William train under Dr. Bienvenido Eraña, the most famous dentist in the country at that time and who counted Philippine presidents among his patients.  For two years, Dr. William worked in the former’s laboratory.

On the eve of his marriage to his classmate, Dr. Eugenia Uy Sy, Dr. William decided to strike out on his own.  Dr. Goitia urged him to do so, and though Dr. Eraña would initially not let his protege go, he eventually attended the blessing of Dr. William’s first office along Gandara Street in Binondo, Manila.

“I was nervous about striking out on my own,” says Dr. William, then only 27.  “But I longed to be like Dr. Eraña.  If I were to continue working under even the best dentist, then I would always be working for other people.  My wife and I wanted to have our own clinic, and Dr. Eraña was our role model.”

The couple started with one dental chair in 1964.

Funds were so tight they settled for a second-hand aircon for the clinic. Dr. William was also saving his money for the things he truly valued:  his precious instruments.

“I was the only one who had a diamond bur [sharp dental instrument],” Dr. William laughs.  “Even my teachers were using steel burs.  They had to borrow mine.”

With perseverance and dedication, Dr. William and Dr. Eugenia steadily grew their practice.  Years later, the clinic moved to Ortigas, and in 1998, the present clinic opened in Pasig.  Dr. Eugenia subsequently stopped her practice to focus on administration.

For by that time, the clinic was already in great hands: Dr. Wally and his brother Dr. Winston Uy Sy, older by a year, with their respective wives Dr. Helen Chua Sy and Dr. Dianne Gabionza Sy, had joined Dr. William in the family practice.

To be continued next week…

Queena N. Lee-Chua is on the Board of Directors of Ateneo de Manila University’s Family Business Development Center.  Get her book “Successful Family Businesses” at the University Press (e-mail [email protected]).  E-mail the author at [email protected].