Rolla Dentists are Partners in Work & Life
September 25, 2018
Midwest Dental recently welcomed Dr. Najwa Varney to Rolla. Dr. Najwa joined her husband, Dr. Nick Varney, in providing patient care in the office located at 1491 East 10th Street.
Both originally from Illinois, Dr. Najwa and Dr. Nick met at Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Dental Medicine when Najwa was a first year dental student and Nick was in his second year. Though they both grew up in families with medical backgrounds, they came to the decision to attend dental school in much different ways.
“I was in seventh grade when I decided I wanted to be a dentist,” Dr. Najwa said. “I got braces then and I thought it was all so cool – all these tools and gadgets and brackets you got to use. I just felt like it was a fun environment. My dad is a doctor and I wanted to do something different than that, so dentistry seemed like a great fit.”
Dr. Nick took a little longer to come around on the idea. “My father teaches internal medicine at SIU but I was kind of a rebel growing up and kept looking for something outside of the medical field,” he said. “I ended up studying dentistry after doing some job shadowing. I have always been an artistic guy and the nice thing about dentistry is that it blends that with being able to serve people and make an impact on their lives.”
Dr. Nick joined Midwest Dental in August 2016. Dr. Najwa practiced 30 minutes away in Saint Robert, MO before the opportunity arose for her to join Nick at Midwest Dental this summer. Now, after getting married earlier this year, they’ve built a house in town and are settling into life together in Rolla.
“I’ve been living in big towns for almost all my life,” Dr. Najwa said. “Coming here, it was smaller and at first I was afraid of that but now I love it! It’s quaint and you see people you know out driving around or at the store. It feels really home-y around here.”
Dr. Nick agreed wholeheartedly. “The people here are open and welcoming,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to help people who are so good natured and friendly.”
At work, the Varneys have similar approaches to patient care and they like to bounce ideas off of each other to come up with the best solutions. They both believe in providing comprehensive, compassionate care to their patients which makes them a great team.