Dr. Tidwell Celebrates 40 Years in Dentistry

On June 23, 1981, Dr. Joel Tidwell opened the doors to his private dental practice in Douglasville, Georgia. Forty years later, the sizable team he’s helped build will celebrate his service to his profession, his patients, and his community.

Dr. Tidwell’s wife, Mary Tidwell, recalls how it all began: “He planned to open the practice on June 24th. He was at the office on the 23rd preparing for the opening day and a passerby saw his new sign and stopped in to make an appointment. Dr. Tidwell was in the office alone and was so anxious to get started that he asked the man if he wanted to go ahead and get his teeth cleaned right then. The man said “yes” and became the very first patient, marking the start of Joel’s 40 years in Douglasville.”

“After I graduated from dental school at Emory, I wanted to go home where I knew people and people knew me. I thought that’d give me a good start. I found an existing dental practice on Highway 5 and thought I’d go in and ask for advice on starting my own practice. I had no idea that dentist was about to move to another city so that chance encounter led to me purchasing his practice 4 months before I’d even graduated,” Dr. Tidwell recalls. “I hadn’t finished school or passed the Board Exam, but I had a wife and new baby who needed me to succeed so I was confident everything would work out.”

It has more than “worked out.” Dr. Tidwell’s once small, personal practice became Douglas Dental Care in 2011 when he and Dr. Dimitri Arfanakis became partners. Douglas Dental Care quickly outgrew the office Drs. Tidwell and Dimitri shared so they built a large, state-of-the art practice at 5897 Stewart Parkway in 2017. Since then, a third dentist and several additional office and treatment staff have been added to the team.

“When I first interviewed with Dr. Tidwell, he told me to do the right thing and everything would work out fine. That still resonates with me. He also said Go Dawgs, “says Dr. Dimitri. “As a dentist, employer, mentor and philanthropist, Dr. Tidwell has served Douglas County well for 40 years. We are honored and excited to celebrate this achievement with him.”

Douglas Dental Care is located in Douglasville, Georgia. Doctors Joel Tidwell, Dimitri Arfanakis, and Thanh Ha provide comprehensive dental services to children and adults. With over six decades of dental experience between them, they offer biannual checks ups and cleanings, restorations, whitening treatments, veneers, crowns, implants and root canals. Additionally, Dr. Ha speaks fluent Vietnamese and Dr. Dimitri speaks fluent Greek. All services are all administered by an upbeat team in a warm and welcoming environment full of southern hospitality.