An inside interview with LocateADoc.com
Describe the most rewarding experience that you have had working with a patient?
While doing mission dentistry in the Caribbean there was a group of children teasing a poorly dressed young girl because she was wearing oversized men sneakers. I went out the small office door and told the crowd of children to queue up several yards away. I took this young girl in and assured her that I would not make her uncomfortable. She had dental work done and left smiling with a gift from me. The next day the same girl fought off some of my helpers and came to me to give me her prized cucumber and a mango. A small tear welled up in my eye as I hugged her.
What is your charity organization of choice and why?
The Organization for International Development. It is a non-profit organization of health care professionals and teachers that travel to underpriveleged countries to administer healthcare at no cost.
What does living in the High Point community mean to you?
My wife and I honeymooned in North Carolina and decided to find a town that would meet our needs. It is close to three major airports, it has enough industry so people can find jobs. It is a great place to raise my boys.
What is your favorite quote or saying?
"The heights of which great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept were toiling upward through the night."
What makes your specialties the right fields of medicine for you?
As a teenager I was traumatized by a dentist and I vowed if I was ever in that position I would not put people down because of the state of their mouth. I can do dentistry 23 hours per day most days.
Finish this sentence: If I weren't a doctor I would be___.
A novelist.
When (your age) did you first realize you wanted to become a surgeon? And did you experience anything in particular to motivate you to achieve this prestigious goal?
I was fifteen when I realized that with 11 cavities I had to do something to prevent being traumatized by a dentist. At 16 when I entered college majoring in chemistry I decided that dentistry would be my calling.
Can you tell us in your own words what you consider a perfect outcome of a surgical procedure?
"A smooth landing". Patient had the least amount of discomfort and was pleased with their new appearance.
What is your favorite procedure to perform and why?
Oral Cosmetic Rehabilitation. To see people change from ordinary to extraordinary gives me a feeling money cannot buy.
What procedure would you like to do more of and why?
Implant placement. People lose so much jawbone because they lose teeth and it sets up a negative domino experience. God gave us the pleasure of enjoying food from birth to death. No other pleasure given to man encompasses so much of their life.
In a perfect world, when would you like to retire, where would you go and what would you do?
I would have a house on a hill in North Carolina overlooking a golf course. I would write novels, teach classes and practice dentistry 2 days per week.
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