I really admired my dentist growing up. He was a fascinating guy. He really was great at talking with people, getting to know people. He was good with his hands. He worked quickly and efficiently, whenever I was at the dental office, and just enjoyed talking with him, and just started asking about his profession more and more each time I went. Learned a little bit, shadowed, and really thought dentistry was an interesting career path. So, pursued that. But he was just kind of a role model, I guess. I don’t even think that dentistry is the rewarding part. I think the most rewarding part is the relationships that you develop, meeting all walks of life every day. It’s very interesting to me to have a conversation with somebody that has a different profession than I, and to learn about that and to understand more where they’re coming from.

So, I think it’s just meeting people every day. It’s just exciting. It’s always something different. I want every patient to feel like they’ve been listened to. Number one, they’re coming to us a lot of times very scared, very anxious. They don’t know what to expect, and that can be very intimidating. So, I want them to feel comfortable and I want them to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing, the pros and cons, things like that. And to really feel like they’re trusting me, knowing that, you know, I have their best interests in mind at all times. That my favorite thing to do is to help a patient who is maybe a little self-conscious about how their teeth look through changing the positioning of the teeth and, you know, providing clear liner therapy like Invisalign or SureSmile.

We can give them the smile they want. One other thing I find satisfying for patients, and we see a lot of it in northeast Iowa, generalized wear and broken down teeth. To restore somebody’s smile, it’s not always about moving them around and putting them in a better position. Sometimes it comes down to changing the shape of the teeth, making them look like what they looked like when they were younger before their teeth were worn down and broken, by doing what we call full-mouth rehabilitations. Just to see people smile after you put those veneers or crowns in their mouth, you know, and a lot of times cry because it looks so beautiful. That’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s the anticipation of what it’s gonna look like when we’re done. And I really enjoy bringing people’s smiles back to health and, you know, what it was before.