How Dr. Leaf Began his Career in Dentistry, an Interview

Where did you go to school?

I went to Georgetown University School of Dentistry and then did my pediatric dental residency at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Was there any special training required to be a pediatric dentist?

We have a lot of different disciplines – we learn about growth and development, behavior management, tooth movement, orthodontics, the drilling and filling and all the different procedures, and of course, pediatric dentistry.  We also had instructors teach us about patients with special needs – everything from cleft palates to heart conditions, and all different kinds of special needs patients.  We also learned a lot about emergency care and spent time in the emergency room.  There was also specialized training to do dentistry under general anesthesia.

Something else I learned is how to take care of Pandas!!  While I was at Children's Hospital, part of my rotation was in  the anesthesiology department.  One day, I actually left with one of the anesthesiologists so we could put LingLing to sleep while they did some diagnostic procedures.  So that was kind of a little sidebar but something pretty cool when I was in the program.

When did you think you first wanted to be a dentist?

When I was about thirteen years old, I was playing baseball and I got hit in the mouth with a ball.  I ended up having a front tooth that was going to need a root canal.  My parents took me to a dentist who was a young guy.  He let me hold some of the instruments and let me develop x-rays with him (that's when we had a tank to develop x-rays) and he didn't hurt me.  I said to myself – WOW! - this might be a cool profession!

Then when I was a senior in high school, I got a job as a volunteer at the Eastman Dental Center.  The director said, “Gee, I wonder where I should put you?”  He said, “We have a brand new program – it's called pediatric dentistry.  I'll put you with those guys.”  They were young, they were energetic, they were happy, and they were taking care of the kids!  It appeared as if they were having a good time!  They let me seat the patients, put on their napkins, hold their hands, and get them their balloons and stickers.  I really had the time of my life that summer!

Now that you are a pediatric dentist, do you have any favorite parts of working with the kids?

You know, no – I really don't.  Actually, you know what the favorite part is?  When you have somebody who gives me a hug when they're finished, especially if they have had a hard time and  then they come back six months later, “Hey Dr. Leaf!”, high five me, or give me a hug.  That's like – wow -  money can't buy that!  That's what I do like the best!