When Michael Carter, DMD, began practicing dentistry in the 1970s in Jackson, Miss., patients were looking for a certain type of dental experience. His home–like 640–square–foot office with two private operatories was the perfect venue in which to build a client base in his adopted home. Friends of his wife — who is from Jackson — brought their children to him, he gained their trust, and soon he was well-known as a family dentist in town.

Several years later, Dr. Carter moved into a 2,000–square–foot, four–operatory office, and it was in this practice atmosphere that his daughter, Catherine Sledge (née Carter), DMD, grew up. She frequently spent time at the practice during her formative years, but it took several years of college before she realized that dentistry was her calling as well as her father’s.

Sledge was attending the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) when she told her visiting parents about her plans to apply for dental school. “I said, ‘Are you crazy? It’s so difficult. I think it’s harder than medical school,’” Carter said. “But Catherine said, ‘No, I think I’ll go.’ Well, about three months after she started dental school, she called me and said how hard it was, but she persevered.”

The ability of dentists to have both a career and a family was appealing to Sledge. “Growing up I saw how Dad was able to have so much involvement in our family as opposed to, say, an emergency room surgeon. He never missed a play, musical, soccer game,” she said. “Dentistry is such a family friendly profession.”