To pay for school, John Smith worked 36 different part-time jobs--everything from running a jackhammer on a bridge demolition to washing dishes. He says he liked them all.

“It’s your outlook on what you’re doing. I like dentistry far better than any of the other jobs, but even when I was putting endless trays of dirty dishes through the steamy dishwasher in a busy restaurant, I enjoyed it.”

Away from the office John pours himself into spending time with his wife, Jane and kids. With four children at home, family is his number one priority. He says, “It doesn’t matter what we’re doing as long as we’re doing it together.”

He says that something most people don’t know about him is that he loves to sing.

“I sing my kids to sleep every night. I’ll go in with the boys and ask them what they want to sing. It’s one of about 10 different songs. They’ll choose and I’ll sing to them. 

I’ll kiss them goodnight and then go into the girls' room. I’ll lay down on one of the beds with them and say, ‘What do you want to hear?’ It’s a couple of songs every night. But, you know…when one of my girls rests her head on my chest as I’m singing her to sleep, that’s more precious than anything this world can offer.”

That same gentleness characterizes his work at Southern Arizona Endodontics. He loves the camaraderie there. He says it’s remarkable how the doctors and staff truly care for and respect each other. It’s something that overflows to the patients.

“We constantly get comments like, “Hey, you really have a nice place here…it’s obvious you guys love what you do. That tells us we’re doing something right.”