BELLE FOURCHE—The waiting area was overflowing at Nehl Dental on May 28, but not for patients waiting to be seen. No, this day it was busy for a very different reason. Family, friends and patients cared for over the years flocked to the lobby to celebrate Teresa Aspen’s 30 years at Nehl as she prepared to retire.
Working as a dental assistant for the past 46 years, 30 at Nehl and 16 years before moving over to Nehl, Aspen has seen a lot of changes through the years.
The biggest change she has seen over her career has been the advancement of technology. “Barb and I…used to joke that we thought we were uptown because we had an electric typewriter,” she said. “Then we got an answering machine—we’re really uptown! We got rid of the old mimeograph-type paper and got an actual copy machine and now we’re doing just so many things—scanning, our own milling of crowns and everything in office and digital X-rays!”
Aspen wasn’t quite prepared for the technology changes to come over her 46 years, but she adapted pretty easily. “They talk about things at dental meetings and then you’d see just these crazy changes—both offices that I worked at have always been very progressive about the technology,” she said.
Even through all of the interesting technological changes, Aspen’s favorite part continues to be her patients. “The people have always remained very nice,” she shared.
Retirement comes around the same time Aspen is set to become a grandma for the first time and she can’t wait!
“We’re gonna be getting a new grandchild here very shortly, in Minnesota—our first! And then I have a mother that lives about eight hours away, too, so I’ll be spending a bit more time visiting them,” she said.
Aspen expects that retiring this time of year will make the transition a little easier. “I went part time last June, so I kind of eased into it, and then I’ll be done at the end of this month—you know it’ll be a little different, but it’s summertime, it’s easy to find things to do outside, you know,” she explained.
Traveling to see her daughter, first grandchild, mom and siblings are all part of Aspen’s plans. So is spending more time with her husband Brian. They met during high school in Spearfish and graduated 50 years ago this year. “We were in the same class…so we’ve been together since 1973! We got married in 1980—we’ve been married almost 46 years,” she shared.
As Aspen reflects on her career, she is very thankful. “I’ve been very fortunate to work for great dentists my entire career in dentistry, and this is a great place to work, they do exceptional work! I’ve had great bosses and great coworkers and great patients—that’s what I’m really gonna miss all of the patients—nice patients.”
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