30 years!  That sounds like a long time but for those of you in your 50s or older, you know just how fast that time can fly by.  Today marks the 30 year anniversary of Dr. Pugh graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry.  

I am the one who writes any social media posts for our office and I am also the one who has been married to her almost as long as she has been a dentist.  No one, short of her parents, knows her like I do, and here is what I can tell you about her.

First, she is tidy. As in very tidy.  She can’t stand a messy work environment or dirty office.  She doesn’t treat patients like customers.  She treats them like regular people, just like she would if they were visiting her home.   She is who she is and treats people as they are.  Nothing about Melanie is fake…ever.  She has a rule that eventually turned into our Mission Statement.  The rule is to never make a patient feel bad about their current situation.   So many people, for a variety of reasons, put off their dental care until they have real problems, and are embarrassed when they come to us.  Melanie has a “You are here today, so let’s just go forward attitude.”  You also will never hear dental hygienists “talk down” or “preach” to their patients. 

High quality and common sense have always been traits of Melanie, in my opinion, due to her upbringing.  Her parents modest home back in Kentucky has always been maintained immaculately, both inside and out.  Her father was a valuable team member at Walker Construction because of his precision while doing his job, grading roads.  She grew up with high quality and common sense as part of her daily life. 

Predictability and setting expectations are the two things that she talks to young dentists about.  Melanie believes in doing dentistry with predictable outcomes and sending things that have higher risk to the specialists that we refer to.  This gives our patients the best experience in our office and best outcomes for their dentistry.  She makes sure that patients have the right expectations about outcomes before starting any dental work.  Unmet expectations are the root of an unhappy patient, customer, or anyone. 

Melanie’s Core Values are “Do the Right Thing” and “Tell the Truth.”  This really tells you everything you need to know about how she manages her life and dental practice. 

Why share this is an anniversary post? Because these days our associate doctors and hygienists see most of our patients, and we want you to know the environment that everyone in our office works in.  When you see Dr. Couillard, Dr. Eisberg, Dr. Berry, Celena, Kelly, Lauren, Ara or Jenny, you can rest assured that they believe in the same things that Dr. Pugh does, when it comes to how we treat our patients!

I am proud of Melanie.  This month is also our 29^th wedding anniversary.  We have been together a long time and I have seen firsthand how special she is.  But I am also proud of our team.  Every day they come to the office committed to our values of doing what is right and being honest.  They serve our patients and each other just as they would their own family members.  And they are committed to quality dentistry that enhances the quality of our patients’ lives and builds their self-esteem with smiles they are proud of. 

We love working together and taking care of our patients.  If you are patient, THANK YOU!  If you are not, we would love to welcome you to our dental family. 

It has been a great 30 years!  Happy Graduation Anniversary Dr. Pugh!

Jody