DR Allan Coveney has been straightening smiles in north-west Victoria for 36 years.

But at the end of this month, Sunraysia's first residential orthodontist will retire and hand over his practice.

While growing up in Melbourne, Dr Coveney said he was "very taken" by the profession after visiting the family dentist as a child.

In 1971, a locum position brought him to Mildura, where he fell in love with the year-round sunshine and laid-back lifestyle.

"I found that I could actually finish work, jump in the car and go fishing down on the Murray," he said.

"It was then I said I wasn't going back to Melbourne."

It wasn't until 1979, however, that he discovered a gap in the region's dental services he was keen to fill.

"I decided to do orthodontics because it wasn't available in Mildura," he said.

"Our patients couldn't get treatment unless they left town."

With the help of wife Joan, he built a practice in Mildura, where he has worked ever since.

"I also had a branch practice in Ouyen and one in Swan Hill," he said.

"We did travelling for about 20 years, but then this practice became so busy that I couldn't be away from it."

Throughout his career, Dr Coveney said he had seen the orthodontic industry change "remarkably".

"When I first started, we had to put what we call bands, which are metal rings, around every tooth -- that took forever to do," he said.

"We've now gone to bonding, where we use specialised adhesive and the brackets are very small.

"They're very easy to put on and to look after.

"The next big thing is the digitisation ... we can do oral scans of people's mouths instead of doing impressions, which is more comfortable for the patient.

"But it's also better for us because we can simulate a result and a response, so it's been marvellous."

He said it was an "absolute thrill" to help people regain their confidence through orthodontic treatment.

"I'll really miss the interaction with my clients and my staff," he said.

"One thing that defines your practice is to have staff that can interact with patients and make them feel at ease, so we've been very lucky."

With retirement on the horizon, Dr Coveney said he was looking forward to visiting grandchildren in Perth and Melbourne when travel restrictions allowed.

"My other passion -- I've always enjoyed working with my hands -- is woodwork," he said.

"So I'll be getting out into my shed more often now. Joan was worried I was going to get under her feet, but she'll never see me."

Keeping up the good work ORTHODONTIST Dr Jason Southwell and oral health therapist Stacey Hochreiter say they are excited to continue Dr Coveney's work.

The couple, along with their two children, have put down roots in Mildura and will fully take over the clinic later this month.

Dr Southwell said their goal was to honour the hard work of Dr and Mrs Coveney.

"They've started something up from the beginning and done a lot of the groundwork," he said.

"We just want to maintain the level of integrity in the work and the level of quality that people expect."

He said it was an incredible opportunity to follow in the Coveneys' footsteps.

"Even our ages and the stage our family is at mirror what Joan and Allan did, so it's very similar and I'd like to be sitting here in 37 years, passing the clinic on to someone else," he said.

"But as Dr Coveney has shown, you can go on in orthodontics and the work is getting easier and easier with the way technology is going, so hopefully it'll be longer than 37 years."