Cosmetic Dentist

When I go back and think about what spurred my interest in dentistry, it started with my early childhood experiences at my orthodontist's office. I had lots of crowding, not enough room for my teeth. So I spent a lot of elementary school years in the orthodontist, a lot of high school years at the orthodontist. So much that I had the opportunity to do work-study program at Community Dental Services in Albuquerque. Through that, I was mentored by my general dentist and shadowed in his office while going to UNM, where myself and one of the associates here in the practice, Dr. Wilson who are founding members of the Pre-Dental Society at University of New Mexico. One of the things that I enjoy is giving patients the ability to smile. I became interested in cosmetic dentistry early in my career. And one of my first patients that I did veneers on was my mother, and my mother would never smile in a family photograph. And after she had her veneers done, she started smiling. So just asking patients if they're happy with their smile. I've had experiences where a man came to tears because nobody had ever asked him how he felt about his smile, and he had always been self-conscious about it. And I was the first person that ever talked to him about making his smile better. Patient care, for me, is knowing that I've done the best of my ability for my patients. And oftentimes, patients will, you know, be satisfied with the result. But if I look at the quality of the work and don't feel like it's something that I would want to have in my own mouth or have in my family member's mouth, I'll often redo a dental restoration or redo a case to bring it up to a standard that I feel is the best that I can give the patient.