I spent much of my youth on my family’s farm in the panhandle of Oklahoma, where we raised livestock and crops. Wide open plains meant veterinary services were hard to come by, so we had to deliver our own calves and piglets and treat the sick ones ourselves. I became an Ohioan by attending Oberlin College near Cleveland, where I met my wife, Julie, then later attended The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Graduation in 1988 led me to work in mixed practices in Xenia, Ohio, and Millersport, Ohio. My love of learning sent me back to OSU to pursue a PhD in reproductive cell biology, completed in 1996. Since that time, I have continued to teach the anatomy lab to first year veterinary students at OSU one day a week.
In 1997, Julie and I launched Village Veterinary Care in Pataskala, Ohio, a pet animal and horse hospital. My growing interest in equine dentistry was sparked when a client asked to purchase horse tranquilizers to be used so that someone else (an “equine dentist”) could float her horse’s teeth. Being an avid learner, I started investigating horse dentistry deeper to find out what I had missed in my education. Since 2001, I have logged over 100 hours of continuing education in Veterinary Dentistry.
The equine dental field lags behind the technological advances of human and pet animal dentistry, and I have found myself to be at the leading edge of this medical advancement. I perform over 500 dental procedures on horses each year, and with the newly established Equine Veterinary Dental Services I hope to continue researching the opportunities for this growing field of medicine. My goal is to provide professional quality dental care for your horse with well-controlled pain management.
A biologist at heart, I’m constantly looking for ways to make a smaller impact on the environment. My love of the farm has translated into a love of gardening and soil development through composting. My practice vehicle is a diesel truck which has been converted to run on vegetable oil. In this way I can support Ohio farmers and decrease petroleum dependence and emissions.
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