Meet Our Team

Born in a Malaysian town renowned for its satay skewers, Mark moved to Auckland with his family when he was 10 years old. From an early age, he decided that being a dentist was what he wanted to pursue and hasn’t looked back since! Mark graduated from the University of Otago and worked in Rotorua before having the opportunity to join the team at Sanctuary Dental.

Mark is committed to a patient-centred approach and ensuring his patients are listened to and cared for. As an individual who is easy-going and gentle, he strives to do all his work with excellence and integrity, and most importantly with your best interest in mind!

Mark is passionate about all aspects of general dentistry, with a special interest in minimally invasive dentistry, dental implants and oral surgery. He also enjoys providing treatment under intravenous sedation and is a member of the NZ Society for Sedation in Dentistry. He continues to develop his knowledge and skills by regularly attending courses locally and internationally.

Outside the clinic, Mark is an avid badminton fan and player, having played the sport competitively since his teenage years.

Having graduated with Bachelor of Dental Surgery in 2014, Gurleen went on to complete Masters in Public Health from University of Sydney. She is very passionate about her career as a dental professional and believes in constantly developing professionally to be able to provide the best care to her patients. She takes pride in treating all her patients with empathy. Her patients know her to be a very gentle and compassionate dentist. 

Her main aim is to be able to make her patients feel at ease and help them achieve their dental dream! She has a special interest in cosmetic and restorative dentistry and is an Invisalign Go provider. 

Outside of work, you would find Gurleen spending time with her one year old daughter, who keeps her quite on her toes. She’s also an avid foodie and loves trying out new cuisines. 

Born and bred in the culturally rich island of Penang in the north of West Malaysia, Desmond grew up wanting to serve with mission aids in underdeveloped communities. He saw dentistry as a tool he could use to benefit society, and came to study at the University of Otago, graduating in 2017 with a Bachelors in Dental Surgery. He has since learned a lot not only about helping people to have healthier smiles but also in giving people a reason to smile. Having completed his primary exam with the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons in 2019, he is constantly improving his dental skills both academically and clinically.

Desmond strives to provide a safe place where you would feel comfortable to achieve the dental health you want, from wherever you are at. Desmond enjoys providing whole person care to enable good physical, functional and psychosocial outcomes. His areas of interest include restoring smiles, saving teeth, decay prevention, and patient education. With the wide variety of technology and collegial network at Lumino he is proud to be able to provide quality dental care for his patients.

Desmond can speak multiple languages, including English, Mandarin, Malay, Hokkien and Cantonese. Outside of work, you may come across Desmond attempting a tramp in the bush, trying not to fall on a snow slope, keeping a rally going on the tennis court or absolutely not getting lost in another part of the world.

Dr Sonia Sarangal, completed her Bachelor of Dental Surgery in 2013 from India and Passed her Australian Dental Council Licensing Examinations in 2022.

She is an expert dentist with a special interest in Cosmetic Dentistry, restoration, Extraction, teeth whitening, Crowns, Dental bridges, and Dentures.

She is passionate about dentistry and strongly believes in connecting with patients and giving the most compassionate care possible to help support their safety and well-being.

Her approach is to make accurate diagnoses and then discuss treatment plans step by step to provide the best possible care. 

She is quite determined to encourage and support patients in their oral hygiene.

Outside of work, Sonia likes to do yoga, meditation, read books, travel to different countries, and spend time with family and nature.

Stephanie was born in France and fell in love with a kiwi whom she married in 1989 and came to live in New Zealand since then.

Stephanie has been involved in different aspects of dentistry all her working life. As an Oral Health Therapist, her work involves recognising how the health of your mouth influences the health of your whole body as there are no barriers in the body. She helps people identify and treat infections of the gums and supporting tissues of the teeth so that your whole body is healthier, as well as improving your smile and confidence.

Her other roles are treating teenagers for general dentistry and working in our orthodontic program. These orthodontic changes and the improvements that this achieves for people is also one of her passions.

“I have amazing tools to work with including lasers, the phase contract microscope, ozone and EMS polishing to remove stains and deposits gently and carefully from your teeth.”

Her approach to health is from a very natural perspective so she likes to learn and advise how to apply this to the mouth.

When not working Stephanie enjoys cooking foreign recipes, playing virtual reality games with her teenage boys and especially reading a good book on the beach!