UNIONTOWN, PA 625 Cherry Tree Lane Uniontown, PA 15401 (724) 438-0600 CUMBERLAND, MD 1415 River Ave. Suite B Cumberland, MD (240) 362-7107 MORGANTOWN, WV 9000 Coombs Farm Dr. Suite. 304 Morgantown, WV 26508 (304) 594-1670
JUNE/JULY 2017 www.mmsendo.com info@mmsendo.com
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THE PERFECT BALANCE Why I Chose a Career in Endodontics
I grew up on a chicken and cattle farm in the small town of Petersburg, West Virginia, taking care of 16,000 chickens. Sadly, our family was treated very poorly by the large poultry company with which we had contracted. Feeling ignored and treated with indifference at best, I decided I wanted to work for myself. I HAD to work for myself. As I got older, I knew I belonged in health care. As an undergraduate, I explored a variety of fields under that umbrella. I loved working with my hands, so naturally I started to give dentistry a serious look. It would allow me to work closely with patients, but unique to other fields in the health care industry, it would also give me time to develop a full-fledged business. In short, it was everything I was looking for. I love that in dentistry there’s a balance between patient care, running a business, and home life. Going a step further, endodontics allowed an even greater balance between these priorities. In many ways, endodontics is slower paced than dentistry as a whole. So, I am able to focus on one patient at a time, and for an extended period of time. This gives me the freedom to get lost in a case, searching for a solution to a problem that may not be obvious on paper or even in an X-ray. That’s the tricky thing about pain, and tooth pain, in particular — the source of pain isn’t always what we think it might be. But when the source of pain is identified and treated, you can change a person’s life. That’s what really defines endodontics. People come to us because they are in pain, we listen, then through science and skill, we get to take that pain away. Of course, dental pain relief sometimes comes as a result of root canal therapy. It’s no secret that the root canal still has a stigma attached to it. Despite incredible advancements in the field of dentistry and endodontics, people put off these procedures because they are uncomfortable with the thought of what they think a root canal is. A lot of people don’t realize, in most cases, it’s a remarkably straightforward and painless procedure.
One of my favorite things about working in endodontics is watching patients leave our office, feeling infinitely better than when they walked in. One sentence I hear time and time again is, “Wow, that was so much better than I expected!”The key is communication. We’re upfront about every detail of the procedure, and we follow through after everything is all said and done. We want to make sure every person who walks into any of our offices is comfortable and understands exactly what to expect. While I am hugely passionate about endodontics and patient care, I’m also passionate about family. I spend as much time as I can with my wife and two little boys, who are 1 and 3. I’m also on the board of directors of Chestnut Mountain Ranch, a Christian boys’ home and school, not far outside of Morgantown. The home is dedicated to providing a solid foundation for life going forward, and to restoring families — and for so many people, that means everything.
Dr. Kent McBride
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WV (304) 594-1670 | MD (240) 362-7107 | PA (724) 438-0600
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