Our practice was established in Penshurst in the late 1800s by William Crawford. In 1919, his son, John Sydney Crawford, qualified (after serving an apprenticeship) and joined his father’s practice. Sometime in the mid-1920s, John Sydney Crawford established his own practice on the main street of Penshurst (see the cool old photo).

In 1953, his son, John Robert Crawford (top right), graduated from the University of Sydney and joined his father practising in Penshurst.

Young John established his own practice in 1957, building on the vacant site at 16 The Strand. In 1962, John Snr. moved into 16 The Strand and practised there until his retirement in the mid-1960s. On March 28, 2001, young John (John Robert Crawford) retired after 48 years of practice.

The Crawford family can thus proudly and uniquely lay claim to treating local people in three separate centuries. The present owner, Brett Lucas Taylor (that’s me, looking ridiculously young), joined the practice in 1985. He can claim to have treated the locals in two separate centuries but is not particularly confident of making it three.

Currently, our most loyal active patient is Coral Roberts, who has just clocked up 83 years of continuous care in our practice. Coral first attended as an 8-year-old. She has just surpassed our previous record holder, Les Riley, who had been attending for just over 82 years when he passed away at the age of 97 in 2015. Both have/had a full set of teeth thanks to the good work of Johns Jr and Sr (and me in later years).

Here’s John “junior” the day he retired in 2001. Sadly, he passed away on January 22 2016, at the age of 87. Here is a nice obituary the ADA NSW Branch published on his life.

We currently have 14 patients who have been attending the practice for 60 years or longer and another 11 I’ve personally been treating for over 40 years. We must be doing something right.