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Welcome to “Paying it Forward,” a monthly interview series made possible by Piedmont Health. In this series, we hear from the folks at Piedmont about the importance of community health centers – and why they chose a career in community health.

This month, Aaron welcomes Lauria Davis, Piedmont Health’s dental clinical manager. She’s been there for 19 years – just half of a four-decade career in dentistry, which began with a life-changing experience in high school.

“As a child, I did not have a huge dental IQ,” Davis says. “I didn’t grow up brushing my teeth, I grew up having a lot of sugary foods in my diet. I thought (it was a) rite of passage to have your teeth extracted and get a denture.”

All of that changed in high school, when she got the chance to spend a year studying dentistry.

“I’m like, ‘you mean to tell me that I can save my teeth by brushing twice a day by flossing once a day and getting my teeth professionally cleaned? That’s incredible!'” she says. “I did not know that. (And) once I learned that, I said, ‘How can I be a conduit to teach others these same lessons?'”

Davis spent the first half of her career in private practice in Philadelphia – “providing high end services, implants (and) whitenings” – but she says everything fell into place in 2005, when she moved to North Carolina and came into contact with Piedmont Health.

“I didn’t know community health centers even existed,” she says. “(Working) at Piedmont opened up a whole world that I did not even know existed…

“The community health center is the safety net for people who need services and can’t afford it. Some of our patients have never had the opportunity to even have their teeth cleaned. Being able to provide dental services to the people who really, truly need it – I just knew deep inside that this was where I needed to be.”

And with Davis’ help, Piedmont Health Services is continuing to grow and serve even more patients than ever. Davis says Piedmont is just about to open a new location in Chapel Hill, on Conner Drive.

“Our ribbon cutting is January 31 at 10:30,” she says – and everyone’s invited to attend.

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