Dr. Jennifer Perkins didn’t start out as a dentist. After earning a degree from Louisiana State University, she taught AP biology and chemistry. She then decided to pursue a career as a dentist, which is something she’d always wanted to do. Dr. Perkins still uses many of the skills she developed as a high school teacher, though: patience, problem solving, and communication, among others. She can explain even complex procedures in easy-to-understand terms.
Read Transcript
The most rewarding part of dentistry, to me, is helping patients gain self-confidence through a new smile and also alleviating fear from patients and letting them get work done that they wouldn't do otherwise. I have a couple of patients, little ladies who are in their 80s, who disliked their smiles and at the ripe old age of 82 decided to wear braces. They decided to do Six Month Smiles because it was time for them to do something for themselves. We've had other patients that were in their 40s that didn't like their smile and they hid their smiles and their personalities and we did full-mouth reconstructions. Now they're smiling all the time. Their personalities just begin to shine. They're cracking jokes, they're cutting up, they've opened their personalities up to everybody.
Then sometimes we see patients and it's not a cosmetic issue. We see patients that have been in pain and we're able to alleviate that for them, or we see patients who have high anxiety levels and they have put off dental work because it's just frankly too terrifying to walk into that dental office to get necessary work done. If we can make them comfortable through sedation dentistry or just spending extra time with them and making sure that they're aware that they're in charge of the pace of the appointment, not us, and they get some confidence. We get the job done. We get necessary treatment done for them. Then they don't have to be in pain and they sometimes even realize that they don't have to have that fear.
After earning her DDS from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, she spent five years in a group dental practice before buying her first practice in 2000. Five years of working at what she calls an “insurance-driven” practice made her realize that ownership would allow her to do what she really wanted: spend more time building close relationships with her patients. Dr. Perkins wants to offer dental care tailored to her patients’ individual needs.
After 22 years practicing dentistry, Dr. Perkins still gets excited about restoring a patient’s oral function. It’s even better when she can transform a patient’s appearance by helping them attain their “dream” smile. She takes special pride in her ability to relax anxious patients and build their confidence by using dental sedation to complete their treatment. For many patients, dental sedation is a real game-changer!
So she can offer the latest dental treatments and techniques, Dr. Perkins frequently pursues continuing education opportunities through her memberships in these professional organizations:
- American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
- Academy of General Dentistry
- American Dental Association
- Alabama Dental Society
- Huntsville-Madison County Dental Society
- Eighth District Dental Society
Thanks to her extensive training and years of experience, Dr. Perkins offers a full spectrum of dental services at her Huntsville, AL dentist office, including:
- General dentistry
- Cosmetic dentistry
- Orthodontics
- Restorative dentistry
- Oral surgery
- Dental implants
- Dentures