LANGLEY — After 35 years next to the dentist’s chair performing thousands of procedures, Dr. Ric Prael has decided to sink his teeth into some new challenges.

Starting in January, Prael will turn over his Langley dental practice to a younger man, and devote more time to family and his many community interests.

“It’s been wonderful,” Prael said. “I never disliked going to work. I really enjoy my patients.

“But it’s time to get someone new and younger in,” he added. “I want to go out on a high. I don’t want to kind of dwindle.”

Prael, 67, is selling his practice to Dr. Edward Park, 30, a fellow graduate of the University of Washington Dental School.

“It took awhile to find someone who fits the community,” Prael said.

“Many of my colleagues say that he reminds them of me 35 years ago. I’m excited to have him here.”

Park has been practicing in the Pierce County area since obtaining his degree from the UW.

“I’m ready to have my own business,” Park said. “I’m ready to move on to the next step.”

“I’m thrilled to take over Dr. Prael’s practice,” he added. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to continue its tradition.”

Park said he will see patients three days a week. Prael will return to the office on First Street in downtown Langley as an employee, seeing patients on Thursdays.

Park said he will continue the practice’s focus on general dentistry — fillings, extractions and crowns.

Prael said his current staff of two hygienists and two office administrators will remain after the changeover.

Park said he has been working for a large corporate clinic, and is looking forward to Langley’s laid-back pace of life.

“It’s a small, tight-knit community,” he said. “Everybody is very nice.”

Park grew up in Tacoma, and said he always hoped to attend the UW’s dental school in Seattle.

“It has a great reputation,” he said.

Park, who is single, currently lives in Mukilteo and said he will continued to commute to South Whidbey until he learns the lay of the land.

He said that on his time off, he likes to keep fit, and he plays a lot of golf. He said he plans to become involved, and that Prael has promised to introduce him to service groups and other organizations.

“I want to keep in tune with the schools and the community,” Park said.

Prael, who moved with his family to Oak Harbor from the San Francisco area in 1953, attended Oak Harbor High School and graduated from the UW.

He opened his dental practice in a two-bedroom house in downtown Langley in October 1974, “and I’ve been there ever since.”

He has two grown children, daughter Kate and son Trace, and a 3-year-old grandson, Trainer, all of whom he now plans to spend more time with.

He lives in Freeland, and has no plans to move away from the South End.

“I’ll still be around,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing more people out in private life.”

He said he will remain heavily involved in Rotary, Kiwanis and other organizations, and hopes to spend more time talking to students at area schools about dental matters.

He said he hopes to visit former Rotary exchange students who live in several countries throughout the world.

And he said he will continue to work closely with the South Whidbey Youth Connection, headquartered in downtown Langley.

Prael said that through the years he’s stayed current with the latest technology in dentistry, but he usually has waited a year or two before acquiring the latest gadget.

“It’s been fascinating,” he said. “Dentistry’s changed so much since I started in 1974.”

Prael said some even bigger changes are in store for South Whidbey. All the dentists currently practicing here are between 58 and 68 years old, he said.

“There’s going to be a big turnover in the next five years to a whole new way of practice,” he said. “New people are going to have new ideas.”

Park, one of those new people, has nothing but praise for Prael.

“He’s kept up,” Park said. “If I get to his age and still have the same passion for dentistry as he does, I’ll be very happy.”