The aftermath of a fire in February that destroyed the inside of Stones Crossing Dentistry in White River Township.
Submitted photo
In a matter of hours overnight, a dental office open for over two decades in White River Township was destroyed.
Dr. Aaron Wilkins woke up at 1 a.m. on Feb. 9 to knocking on his door. At the door, he was met with police officers telling him his dental office, Stones Crossing Dentistry, was up in flames.
Wilkins has owned Stones Crossing Dentistry in White River Township since August 2002. He returned to his hometown to open his own office after practicing dentistry in northern Indiana for a few years. Since then, he’s served thousands of patients in the Center Grove community.
Everything inside the office space on the first floor, from the waiting room to all the equipment and exam rooms, was destroyed in the fire in February. A space heater under the front desk caught fire and it spread quickly through the rest of the office, Wilkins said.
The responding fire departments weren’t sure how long the fire lasted, Wilkins said, but they told him it had been smoldering for a long time by the time they arrived.
“The first floor had to be gutted all the way down to the studs,” Wilkins said. “Everything had to be taken out … all the equipment was useless.”
Since February, Wilkins and his team have been on the road to rebuilding. Other area dentists are helping Wilkins out by taking patients who have immediate needs or emergencies. Stones Crossing Dentistry also rented some space at another dental office briefly to serve patients who needed services right after the fire.
“Our dental community is pretty small. So a lot of dentists around me have been taking patients and taking emergencies for me,” Wilkins said. “They did a good job coming together.”
Wilkins hopes to reopen in October this year. He and his staff of six are ready to get back to work. Since the dental office is insured, everyone has been receiving some pay for this time out.
“They’re not going anywhere at the moment. So they’re ready to go,” Wilkins said.
Construction is moving along. The walls have been replaced, air-conditioning installed and new dental equipment is purchased and stored awaiting move-in. New floors are expected to be placed soon, and work is going to start on cleaning up the basement, which had some water damage from the fire. The layout of the dental office is largely going to stay the same, with some modern upgrades with new equipment and furniture.
Wilkins is expecting this rebuild to cost close to $1 million, with all the construction and new dental equipment needed.
“This was just another day, almost,” Wilkins said of the fire. “I mean, it’s a mess. Nobody wants it to happen, but it’s moving through. So we just kind of took it and are going with it.”
