Job Spotlight: Dr. Cathy L. Cook Dentist and owner of Cook Dental Care

Growing up in Columbus, it seems Cathy Cook had no other choice -- or desire -- than to become a dentist and help people.

After all, her father, Dr. Henry L. Cook Sr., had a thriving practice, with his daughter spending plenty of time at the office, particularly during the summers.

Cook progressed quickly as a helper in the office, becoming a dental assistant, and ultimately realizing her path had been chosen by her own passion for the profession.

Her path would be different than that of her brother, Henry L. Cook II, although they both headed off to dental school about the same time. But Cathy Cook's road would take her to the U.S. Army, where she worked as a military dentist after receiving a scholarship midway through college.

"That was the beginning of my career, and I fell in love because the best decision I ever made in dental school was the military. It taught me a lot," said Cook, 45, who saw duty at Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, N.C., Fort Stewart, Ga., and Fort Irwin, Calif.

In 2008, the Columbus native made the decision to purchase the dental practice of her godfather, Dr. Isaac S. Hadley, on North Oakley Drive. A year ago, she relocated it to 2751 Warm Springs Road, not far from Columbus State University and Peachtree Mall, where she has seven full-time staffers.

She is president-elect of the Georgia Dental Society, a position held by her father and brother, and she mentors high school and college students, some looking to get into the dental field like herself.

During a recent visit to her office, Cook, 45, discussed her job, its challenges and just why she does it. This interview has been edited for length and clarity, with an expanded version on www.ledger-enquirer.com.

Of note, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are nearly 147,000 dentists in the U.S., with another 23,000 or so needed by the year 2022, a faster-than-average growth rate. The 2012 median salary for a dentist was $149,310 per year.

First, how many cavities do you have?

Gosh. (laughs) As a kid, I had a lot, up until about the age of 12 or 13. I haven't had any cavities since. But my children have never had cavities. I told them I'm jealous.

Just how did you get to this point in your career?

I'm a daddy's girl and so at a pretty early age I was hanging out with my dad, who's a dentist, at his office, I really developed a love for wanting to help take care of people. I grew up going to the office and in the summers we would work there.

When I was in the third grade, if the students wanted to take an extra class, they called it enrichment. If you failed a class, they called it summer school. But they were housed in the same building at Hardaway High School. So my parents enrolled me in a typing enrichment course and, right after I finished the typing test, I started my first job typing recall cards to send out to patients to let them know that it was time for their hygiene appointment. I was 8 years old.

Every summer after that I would answer the phones or make appointments. So I spent (ages) 8, 9, 10, 11 during the summers in the front office. By the time I was 12, I was bored with the front and wanted to be in the back. So I asked my dad at 12 if he would train me as a dental assistant.

That summer, myself and one of our family friends' daughter, who was in high school, he trained both of us ... Every summer after that, I was a dental assistant.

You developed a passion for it and enjoyed it?

I did. And then when I went off to college in Atlanta I joined a dental temporary agency and I worked all over metro Atlanta, in 25 or 30 different offices.

You were substituting for regular staff?

Yes. If somebody was out sick or on vacation, they would call a temporary service and say they needed somebody for a week, or five days, or two weeks. So I got a chance to work in a lot of different environments even before going on to dental school.

I think that really broadened my scope, in terms of 'wow,' (dental practices) could look so different. You could have a two-room office with a little divider between, just a little clinic, or you could have a 10-room opitory with a huge staff, or you could have five dentists or one dentist. I saw a lot of different things.

You must see your share of patients with pain and anxiety?

I'm really fortunate because I get a lot of new patients. So everyday I'm meeting somebody that has that disposition, at least half of them. I first try to greet people and shake their hand and look them in the eye and ask what's going on with them, and tell them a little about myself, then start going into what we need to do: This is what needs to happen, I'm here to help.

I think one of the gifts that I have is helping people to relax. I have the ability to really comfort people. I guess it's because I'm confident that I can help them. Some of them are young, 12, that have anxiety, or 65, that have anxiety. Any age person can have anxiety and I acknowledge it is real.

Instead of, oh, you'll be fine or this doesn't hurt ... no, it does. And, no, it's not OK in this moment. But we just kind of slow things down and try to build a relationship ... So I have very few patients who are afraid after a few visits with me.

Have you seen any major changes in dentistry over the years?

The biggest changes that I've seen is a lot more prevention. More of the (printed) materials that manufacturers are using tie in with research. Research has kind of changed the scope of dentistry. We're able to do more of bio-regenerative. That means we're going to help heal, we're going to help sustain, we're not going to take out as many teeth. We're going to help maintain and preserve your natural dentition.

So I think the biggest change is more people have a higher dental IQ. They don't come in just thinking, oh, I've got to get (my tooth) out. When I first left the military and came into private practice, more people were like, you've got a toothache, you get it out. If it hurts, it's got to go.

Does prevention success cut into your workload and business?

For me, because I'm a comprehensive dentist, because I do everything, I haven't seen a cost cut. Every year, my business has grown because I'm not going after just the high-end stuff. I get some high-end stuff, like cosmetic things. But those are the exception.

Most of it is run-of-the-mill fillings, partials, dentures, crowns, root canals, bridges. I get a lot of that. I get a few that want to do a full-mouth rehab, that want some ortho, some bleaching, want crowns from one side (of their mouth) to the other.

But, primarily, people just want to be healthy. And if they only need three fillings, then we're just doing three fillings. If they don't need 10 crowns, we're not going to do 10 crowns. That's just my approach. We're going to do what you need and preserve what you have, and if you've got the budget and we can improve on it, then we'll do it.

I think because I look at people as a part of my dental family -- not just this guy with $500 in his pocket right now -- that people really sense that sincerity and they appreciate it.

What's a typical day like for you?

We have a morning meeting at 8:30 and we pray, and we start working at 9. Most days I get a lunch break, a little one, and then we finish around 5 or 5:15. Monday through Thursday we work a full day; Friday's a half a day. Because I'm a comprehensive dentist, we do everything each day. There's no one day for any one thing, except for sedation with children. I try to do that Wednesday morning just to contain the sedation kids together.

A typical day can run the gamut, from cleanings to pulling teeth?

Yesterday was pretty busy. (Glancing at a computer spreadsheet) I did impressions for dentures, an extraction. I sent this gentleman over to see a specialist for a root canal. I did a filling called a core buildup. I did extractions here, extraction, extraction, filling. I had one, two, three emergency patients in the morning. That's walk-in with pain. Over here are my hygiene patients. This was kind of a slow day. Two people didn't show up. And this whole family didn't show up. But we stay busy.

Do you preach good hygiene, knowing clean mouths are the key to good health?

The research, especially for pregnant women or diabetics or anybody, shows if you've got bacteria in your blood stream, through your mouth, it can further complicate or cause some other problems in the rest of your body.

We have two (bacteria) bad guys we fight against in the mouth. One bad guy causes cavities and one bad guy causes gum disease. If we can keep those guys out of your mouth, it operates well.

Research shows women who have gum disease during pregnancies have a high incident of pre-term birth. That's how we developed federally a program for pregnant women to get their teeth cleaned, to get fillings, to address any other concerns that they may have before they deliver.

That's one set of people, but that goes for everybody. Whatever's in your mouth can affect what happens in your body.

The mouth is a window into your health, in essence?

Sometimes you can see things, like dry mouth. A patient may not be diagnosed yet with diabetes, but they're thirsty all the time. When you see a dry mouth, you ask them and tell them they may want to go get their blood sugar checked.

One of the biggest things happening now is a lot of patients -- all different ages -- suffer with dry mouth and they don't know it until they've lost 50 percent of their salivary flow. Saliva is one of the most important things in the mouth because it helps to bathe everything. It's just bathing and washing things off. When that stops happening, things get stuck on the teeth and they adhere and stay and cause a higher incidence of cavities.

What's the most challenging procedure for you to do?

A horizontally impacted wisdom tooth. That means the tooth is turned sideways. So you've got to access the tooth, you've got to separate it, and bring it out in two or three parts ... But they're impacted, so they're covered by bone tissue and partially by bone. You've got to get access to it without hurting anything else.

How many mouths have you worked on through the years?

Let's do a little math. (Gets out a calculator) I tell people I touch 40 people a day. Maybe a third of those I'm just checking them for exams. Two-thirds of them I'm doing work ... That's 147,200 visits (over 16 years). Not different people, because you're going to see one person for several visits.

What's the main thing you've learned from your father?

One of the key things I learned from my dad is put people first, and have fun at work, don't be a slave driver. Yeah, get the work done and have standards and be an example, but put people first and have fun.

So the work environment here is very, very pleasant. We laugh and joke and kid all day, and it's not stressful. The work itself can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be. So we play music and talk. I have a great relationship with my team.

You are a female dentist. Is that somewhat out of the norm for the profession as a whole?

We're in the minority, but it has increased. When my dad was in school, there were no women in his class. That was the 1960s. When I was in school, 60 percent of the class was women. So there are more women in the dental field of all nationalities, and we're a stronger presence now because of how the dynamics have changed.

In this area, there's not a lot of women, but we're present. Female colleagues from Fort Benning and from Columbus and I all participate in dental events. So I'm not an island. But I do get excited when another lady comes to town. I'm like, oh, we've got another girl.

What would you be if you weren't a dentist?

An engineer or a builder. I say engineer because I would build things, I would restore things.

In the mouth, it's a really small field of vision. But that's what I do all day. I fix things. You come in with a problem with your tooth? I fix it. I restore it. I put it back to the way it was before or I make it better. And I enjoy the process of doing that.

For me, it's very calming. But I think you've got to have a certain personality type because there's a lot of detail, and there's a lot of things happening at the same time when you've got a big practice like mine.

BIO

Name: Dr. Cathy L. Cook

Age: 45

Hometown: Columbus

Current residence: Columbus

Education: 1987 graduate of Columbus High School; attended both Spelman College and Columbus College, but graduated from Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry in Nashville, Tenn., in 1998

Previous jobs: Commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army Dental Corps after receiving a scholarship in her third and fourth years in dental school; completed a one-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry at Fort Benning in 1999; worked as dental officer until 2006; worked with her brother, Dr. Henry L. Cook II, and father, Dr. Henry L. Cook Sr., from 2002 until 2008; worked with her godfather, Dr. Isaac S. Hadley, from 2002 until 2004, purchasing his practice on North Oakley Drive in 2008; moved her practice to 2751 Warm Springs Road a year ago

Family: Two children, Jasmine Kiara, 21, and Jordan, 10; parents, Dr. and Mrs. Henry and Mamie Cook Sr.; sister, Rosa Zanders; and brother, Dr. Henry L. Cook II

Leisure time: Enjoys listening to jazz, especially live music, and playing games with her children, traveling and spending quality time with family and close friends

Of note: Spends a lot of time with her church family, Revelation Missionary Baptist Church; Spends a lot of time with her church family, Revelation Missionary Baptist Church with Pastor Valerie Thompson, where she is the Daddy's Girls Ministry Leader (mentoring group for girls ages 12-18), Sunday School teacher for middle adults, sings in the choirs and praise team serves as the vice-president/president-elect of the Georgia Dental Society; (state dental organization founded in 1937 and part of the National Dental Association); is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and of the GDA; member of the steering committee for United Negro College Fund; motivational speaker for the SAMARC Foundation Basketball Camp and other youth groups.

This story was originally published August 23, 2014 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Job Spotlight: Dr. Cathy L. Cook Dentist and owner of Cook Dental Care."