Dr. Johnathon (Bert) Dodd shares his Specialty with the Students
by Lindsey Oechsle
If you combine equal parts passion, knowledge, patience and dedication, I’d say you’ve got a recipe for the perfect teacher. As for Dr. Johnathon R. (Bert) Dodd, his cup runneth over. He is a kind, talented, extremely intelligent, wholesome family man with unabashed adoration for his chosen specialty. The final ingredient that keeps Dr. Dodd from fitting any mold is his deep-rooted, selfless commitment and desire to share his expertise for the betterment of his profession and the overall advancement of veterinary dental care.
It doesn’t take a panel of judges or an awards committee to see that Dr. Johnathon Dodd is a noteworthy leader in the profession. His title of 2008 TVMA Practitioner of the Year in Medical Specialty is easily understood by all pet owners, students and colleagues whose lives he has enriched. After spending a brief late-summer morning with him in his office, I can honestly admit that he enriched mine.
Dr. Dodd’s office is clean and well organized. Pictures of his grandson, Drew, are displayed in frames dotting his desk space, and clay-impression paw prints of past exotic patients hang from ribbons on the wall. He speaks softly and confidently about his life. His eyes are thoughtful, and his tone reflective.
These days Dr. Dodd, or Bert, as his friends call him, uses his skill and experience to teach dentistry to veterinary students as a Clinical Associate Professor of Veterinary Dentistry at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine. The journey to this current destination is a colorful one full of faith, family and good old-fashioned hard work.
Dr. Dodd grew up in the Valley—the middle child, with one older sister and a younger brother. His father was a jeweler, and his mother and father worked together in the jewelry store. He spent summers working on the farm and in gas stations. In school, he played French horn in the band and was Drum Major through Junior High and High School.
After graduating from High School in 1967, Dr. Dodd went to Sam Houston State University where he was Drum Major of the band for two years. In his junior year of college, his science classes and labs interfered with marching band and he had a hard time keeping up with the demanding time commitment. Another welcome distraction at this time was his wedding.
Dr. Dodd and his wife grew up together and were high school sweethearts. She followed him to Sam Houston and they were married in the summer of love, May 3, 1969. She turned four years into three so they could graduate at the same time. He graduated in May 1971 and was in the process of being drafted, so he joined the Air Force. She graduated in August and joined him.
Dr. Dodd’s undergraduate focus was in pre-dental, and he was on an alternate list for dental school when he was drafted. In the Air Force he served for four years as a medic. He never had much experience in veterinary medicine until he was in the service, and as a medic he found that he could do dentistry as a vet. His first assignment was Okinawa, and from there he was transferred to Bergstrom for his final two years. That’s how he ended up getting to Austin.
After four years of service, Dodd began working for Dr. James Wood in Austin. Dr. Wood encouraged him to pursue his newfound passion for veterinary medicine. Dodd gained admittance to the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University and attended from 1976-1979. Upon completion, he returned to work for Dr. Wood on every break from vet school, and Dr. Wood eventually hired Dodd fulltime when he completed his education. In April 1981, Dr. Dodd opened his own Austin-area small animal practice, Hiway 620 Animal Hospital.
It was five years later at a dental CE course in Dallas that Dr. Dodd’s interests and passions began to truly change his career path.
After rekindling his excitement about dentistry, he became a dedicated scholar—taking every dentistry CE course he could find all over the country. A few years later, he gained admission to the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry, of which he later served as president (1999-2001) and became a Fellow. An eternal student of his craft, Dr. Dodd continued to gain more and more dental knowledge everywhere he could and started taking dental referrals in Austin at his general practice.
By 1993, he was overrun by referrals and needed help with his general practice, so he took on a partner, Dr. Randy Smith. That same year he began his Alternate Pathway Residency Program for the American Veterinary Dental College under the mentorship of Dr. Bob Wiggs in Dallas. The practice continued to grow, and in 1998 he took on a second partner, Dr. Jim Richardson. Dodd continued to pursue his residency, which he completed in 2001. He took the exam for the College and successfully completed all parts two years later. Meanwhile, Dr. Dodd had been making a name for himself as an expert in veterinary dentistry and his expertise was being requested for lectures, labs and seminars across the nation.
This is the point in the story where I deduce that the man sitting across from me must have preternatural abilities. Dr. Dodd describes it with much greater humility. He was running a general practice, doing a residency program and raising three kids, which he refers to as “quite time-consuming.”
Dr. Dodd enjoys both practicing and teaching, but acknowledges that in one lifetime, you can only wholly immerse yourself in one or the other, especially when you’re raising three children. Most people go through college, do an internship or residency and 3-4 years later they’re done. It was ten years from the time Dr. Dodd started his residency until completion. It may not be the traditional route, but it is certainly commendable.
“I was on the road all the time. I would work all week and then travel around the country to teach dentistry in 8-hour sessions, just to return and work the entire week. Add trying to keep up with three very active kids. That’s one reason it took me so long to get through that process.”
In the Dodd family, 'very active kids' is an understatement. Their son, Robbie, played baseball and was in the band in high school and played college ball at Southwestern in Georgetown. Melissa had 14 Varsity letters in high school and four years in band. She went on to play college softball at Mary Hardin-Baylor. Carrie, the youngest, was in band and sports all the way through as well.
"So," he says as if an excuse is warranted, “It was a little hard at times to focus on my career, but I just did it when I could. When Carrie graduated high school, my wife suggested I take on teaching dentistry fulltime. I thought, ‘Maybe there’s a door out there that I don’t even know exists that could open,' and that’s sort of what happened.”
In 2002, Dr. Dodd was asked to come over to A&M to do a root canal on Bobby the bear, Baylor University’s mascot. That was his first chance to do any work at the College. At that point it was arranged that every Friday on his day off, he would come to the College as an adjunct assistant professor to work on dental patients for the College. He did this for 3 years, and in 2005, Dean Richard Adams and Dr. Dr. Sandee Hartsfield asked if he would consider coming to TAMU-CVM, starting a dental department and teaching dentistry.
Dr. Dodd sold his dental practice and was working at TAMU-CVM fulltime by March 2006, teaching dentistry to fourth year students and dental lectures and electives to the third year students.
The people he admired the most in vet school were the ones who had been in private practice for years and came back to teach. He remembers thinking, “After 25 years in private practice, maybe I have something I can offer students. I mean I’ve made every mistake in dentistry that you can make. Hopefully I’ve learned from them. Maybe I can keep the kids from making all the mistakes I made.”
“I try to challenge myself to make people smile and enjoy what they’re doing. I don’t put pressure on the kids to make an A. I want them to learn the material, and I don’t care what grade they make. They don’t understand that. All they can see is A, A, A. But it’s not about that; it’s about what you can do and what you can learn. Your clients are never going to ask where you graduated in your class. They don’t care if you’re first or last, but they care if you care. I just want them to learn that in a comfortable environment. Although it’s not too comfortable in a 57-degree room,” he laughs, “so that’s the downside. It’s so cold in that room, and they can’t seem to do anything about it.
I join him downstairs in the dental suite of the SA clinic where he is greeted by a handful of anxiously awaiting apprentices—all women, all smiles. He wasn’t kidding about the temperature. Noticing my uncontrollable shivers, one of the students offers me a cardigan. The group is a cohesive unit of professionalism, enthusiasm and respect. It is apparent that being in the suite with the students in this capacity is Dr. Dodd’s happy place. He leans against the cabinets, laughs and smiles, constantly sharing jokes with the students and Tommy (who has been his technician for the last 20 years). They talk about the previous evening’s baseball all-star game and the recent popularity of croc sandals. “Grand Slam” by Shorty Rogers and his Giants plays softly from the computer speakers.
Dr. Dodd names his passion for teaching dentistry as his personal strength.
He admits that he feels great joy interacting with the students and seeing the positive results from a healthy mouth in a pet. The corners of his mouth raise into an unavoidable smile as he speaks of his passion for dentistry, and he gets a glimmer in his eye. “When these guys are getting old and you clean up their mouth, all of a sudden they’re a puppy again. That’s what is really rewarding—when you see the benefits of a healthy mouth.”
The most precious thing to Dr. Dodd is his love for God and family. The Dodd’s take care of both of their mothers. His mom lives next door, and his mother-in-law lives with them. He has watched as his three children have grown to become successful adults with families of their own. Melissa is a physical therapist in Dallas. Carrie, the youngest, lives in Midland with her husband and they just received their second grandbaby in August. Melissa had their first, Drew. Robbie is a CPA and professional award-winning photographer. He and his wife are responsible for the excellent images of Dr. Dodd that accompany this feature. His wife is the daughter of TVMA Executive Committee member, Dr. John Morton. The story goes … Dr. Morton came over to Austin years ago to learn dentistry from Dr. Dodd, and their wives got together in the office and shared pictures and stories of their children. Matchmaking ensued, and numbers were exchanged. Shortly after, the two were happily married. Dr. Dodd jokes that he refers to Dr. Morton as his ‘vet-in-law.’ It seems appropriate.
“I don’t see retirement in my future. I mean I just like what I’m doing and don’t plan to quit any time soon. To be here was a goal as was starting a dental department, because prior to 2006 there was never any real dentistry taught here. They did basic cleaning and there wasn’t much equipment, so it was a little frustrating for me as a practitioner to know what we were missing. I wanted to share what I learned with all my colleagues, so they could learn at least basic dentistry. Know how to clean and extract teeth and properly use the instruments. Periodontal disease is 95% of what we do anyway, and that’s what they need to be educated in. The general public expects that were doing basic dentistry, and unfortunately we haven’t been.”
Dr. Dodd encourages all students, colleagues and veterinary practitioners to take as much veterinary dentistry CE as they can. “It’s that important in everyday practice. You don’t have to have referrals. They walk through your door every day untreated and undiagnosed. Seek out dentistry CE, and get everybody on your staff trained and on the same page from your techs to your receptionist.”
