For the past seven decades, Evident has been a fixture in the Houston community. Though its name and ownership has changed over the years, the dental office has maintained its dedication to innovation and focus on high-quality patient care.

Located at 2201 W. Holcombe, Ste. 335 in Houston, Dr. Jack Golf established the office in 1952 and practiced there for 40 years before trusting it to Dr. Annette Wood.

The current owner and practitioner of the Medical Center dental office, Dr. Erica Lea Torok, took the reins in April 2022. Dr. Torok has 20 years of experience as a dentist and practices general, cosmetic and implant dentistry. She sees patients of all ages starting at 6 months old to 116 years.

After graduating in her hometown of Arad, Romania in 2003, Dr. Torok earned her degree from UT San Antonio in 2011 and has since completed hundreds of hours of continuing education courses. Her studies have included Preceptorship in Dental Implantology, including a hands-on Level II course at the well-known Zimmer Institute in California, as well as courses in sleep apnea and orthodontics.

Dr. Torok first met Dr. Wood when they worked together in 2011. The two kept in touch throughout the years through the Greater Houston Dental Society meetings.

"Dr. Wood handpicked Dr. Torok," said the Evident office manager, who greets every patient upon arrival at the dental office.

Dr. Torok was thrilled because she was familiar with Dr. Wood's dentistry style and their treatment philosophies were aligned. She renamed the practice to reflect its focus on evidence-based dentistry and for her love of puns.

“It was meant to be,” Dr. Torok said. "[Dr. Wood] called me and told me she wanted to sell me her office and she did. She never put it on the market. She trusted me that I will deeply care for her patients and I am honored to do so. I always thought I would be independent in my own office, not working for a big corporation.”

Personal care is something that the team at Evident takes seriously.

Patients at Evident undergo a comprehensive exam as the first step, followed by a cleaning as well as X-ray and intraoral imaging as needed. Dr. Torok said the staff is sensitive to patient concerns and listens carefully to their needs and wants.

"At the first appointment, patients come in and talk about dental observations based on the X-ray and intraoral images and what we see so they know upfront what treatment might be needed with the steps and cost,” Dr. Torok said. “Patients are not going to have surprises."

As the first generation of patients reach their 90s and 100s, the practice is now serving its fourth generation of patients. Because continuing care is key to Evident’s dentistry, the team is conservative in treatment planning and chooses different caries arresting methods whenever possible.

“This is especially true when it comes to elderly patients who don't want to undergo treatments any longer, or very young patients who can't cooperate,” Dr. Torok said.

In Dr. Torok's opinion, keeping up with the latest technology is paramount. The Evident team prides itself on staying up to date with the latest technology investing in intraoral cameras and a 3D scanner for digital impressions. These additions allow a smoother workflow with quicker and more accurate results.

"No more gooey impression materials and snail mail,” she said. “The dental impression is an STL file that we send to the laboratory and they receive it right away."

For the real-time exchange of information and sense of camaraderie it provides, Dr. Torok is highly engaged in the online dental community.

"Right now, we are very curious about how 3D printing is coming along in dentistry and we are closely monitoring the state of the industry in that sense," Dr. Torok said. "The FDA approved the code this year for materials that can be used for printing permanent crowns to be placed in people's mouths and we want to implement this as soon as we know the results are lasting. We want to be at the forefront of technology, but we don't want to jump into something that hasn't been widely tested yet."

The office at Evident is accepting new patients.

"We are inviting residents of the neighborhood and beyond to come and check us out," Dr. Torok said.

For more information or to make an appointment call 713-660-6484 or email [email protected].

The above story was produced by Holly Galvan with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team. Our integrity promise to our readers is to clearly identify all CI Storytelling posts so they are separate from the content decided upon, researched and written by our journalism department.