For the Germains, dentistry is the family business.
Diana Germain, her late father Dr. Cheng, her husband Joe and her son Bailey are all dentists.
The Germains operate Heritage Dental on 2nd Avenue in Mission – a historic building that’s part of the city’s heritage walk.
“If we're having dinner at home, we're not always talking about teeth but it's a pretty nice feeling when you come into work in the morning to get to not just say hello to your colleagues and your workmates, but you get to say hello to your son,” Diana said.
Diana didn’t intend to follow her father into dentistry.
“It's kind of funny, right? Because you usually fight what your parents do,” Germain said.
In college, she was pursuing sports medicine while playing varsity field hockey at Simon Fraser University. It was during that time she met her husband Joe, who was playing varsity football.
Diana travelled to UCLA for a sports dentistry symposium with her father and was surprised by how much knowledge she already had in the field.
“My dad was a natural teacher,” she said.
She came back from the trip thinking dentistry was a pretty good way to go.
Meanwhile, Joe wasn’t sure what direction to take but thought dentistry sounded good. He was accepted to dental school at UBC but also got drafted to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League.
Joe deferred his acceptance and played for both the Tiger-Cats and the BC Lions. However, he wanted something more stable than “getting hit around” and went to dental school.
After graduating from UBC, both Diana and Joe started working in North Vancouver with Diana’s father.
Her father taught dentistry internationally and Diana says it was a wonderful starting position, having access to tha shared knowledge
Her father worked into his 80s and passed away at 86.
“He loved it so much. He just kept going,” Diana said.
As Diana kept learning, she began to lecture as well. a
“The apple doesn't fall far from the tree,” she said.
Meanwhile, Joe came to Mission and the pair moved to the area when they started to expand their family.
Their daughter, who is now a lawyer in Vancouver, didn’t gravitate towards dentistry. However, Bailey was science-driven.
“I thought he might go the veterinary route but when he chose dentistry it was a pretty neat day. I know how my dad felt when I told him I was going to go that way,” Diana said.
Diana says a lot of people ask how the family can work together but she says dentistry is a bit unique.
“You're in the same building and you can discuss things and be with each other, but for most of the day, you really don't see each other. You're running your own practice with your own patients, so to speak. So I think generally, we're pretty lucky that way,” Diana says.
Dr. Ethan Wiens may not be related to the Germains, but he’s fit in with the Heritage Dental team over the past year and a half.
“I guess the first thing that I noticed from knowing them and knowing their philosophy is that they really treat everybody like family,” Wiens said.
Wiens has several family members who are dentists as well.
“My brother, Dr Adam in the Okanagan – he kind of was the one that really inspired me,” Wiens said,
While the 58-year-old Diana still loves to work, she can’t see herself following in her father’s footsteps and working into her 80s.
