Father - Son: A Dynamic Dental Duo Robbie and Craig Bridgeman operate a father-and-son dental practice in Boone, half of four generations of dentists. Photos by Scott Nicholson Robbie Bridgeman is following in his father’s footsteps. By Scott Nicholson Maybe the implications of his surname led Robert “Robbie” Bridgeman to become a dentist, but most likely it was in his blood. Robert, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina Dental School, joined his father Craig Bridgeman’s dentistry practice this month, the fourth generation of the Bridgeman family to enter the field. Craig has operated a dental practice in Boone since 1977, moving to the area with his wife Rose from Florida, where he had earned his dentistry degree. He had grown up in New Martinsville, W. Va., where his grandfather Dr. George Bridgeman had opened a practice in 1899. The young couple had visited Blowing Rock and liked the area, but Craig had a more practical reason for not returning to his and Rose’s hometown. “Rose came from a large family, and we knew if we went back to New Martinsville, we’d be treating relatives at free or reduced cost and we wouldn’t make a living,” he said. Craig grew up hanging around the Bridgeman dental office in West Virginia, which was passed down from his grandfather to his father, Robert B. Bridgeman. Craig’s brother David now manages the practice, marking 107 years of continuous operation. Craig’s sister also has a dentistry degree but is currently not practicing. Craig said he didn’t know why his family was attracted to the field, though he has a brother who’s an engineer and a daughter entering college who isn’t interested in the family tradition. “I don’t know whether it’s environmental or not,” Craig said. “The hand-eye skills are obviously genetic.” Craig hung around his father’s office as a child. While other children were playing cops and robbers, he was playing with casting equipment in the lab. After his dad encouraged him to be a “chair-side assistant,” Craig knew he wanted to be a dentist, too. “Watching the interaction with the patients got me hooked,” he said. “It’s the most fun part of dentistry anyway, the people you get to meet.” Robbie followed the same path, playing with casting wax in Craig’s office as a youngster, eventually working occasionally by sterilizing equipment and conducting lab work. Robbie, who also inherited his father’s sense of humor, said dentistry wasn’t his first career choice. “I wanted to be a cowboy until I found out it wasn’t practical,” he said. “At age 5, I realized there was no money in it.” He was interested in cooking and thought about becoming a chef, but realized he’d be working nights, weekends and holidays, time he’d rather spend with friends and family. And, as Craig pointed out, it would interfere with his golfing. Because Robbie had access to his father’s textbooks growing up, he found his dental course work a little easier than his classmates. The two share another connection besides career choice. Craig’s wife Rose is a nurse, as is Robbie’s fiance. The women can expect plenty of tooth talk at family gatherings. “It doesn’t dominate dinner conversation, but it certainly comes up,” Craig said. “It’s mostly my questions and his answers,” Robbie added. The father-and-son team attend seminars and conferences together, and are members of the George Hollenback Operative Dentistry Seminar, which is held at different offices and allows dentists to watch each other in action. Named after a famous dental researcher, it allows members to gain experience by literally looking over the shoulders of their peers. “You don’t want to screw up in front of your colleagues,” Craig said. He said broadening his base of experience has been one of the benefits of his work. “I have friends in the profession all over the world,” Craig said. “It’s rare when somebody’s moving somewhere that I can’t find them a dentist.” Robbie said education is a lifelong process and a dentist never stops learning new techniques. “That’s why you call it ‘practicing,’” he said. Another family quirk is naming dogs after dentists, beginning with Craig’s dog Hollenback and continuing with Robbie’s Sam, a nod to UNC dental professor Dr. Allen Samuelson. The two are also working together renovating a house Robbie is buying, and have tackled other woodworking projects in the past. Right now, they are working on building Craig’s practice with the goal of eventually passing it down to Robbie. Craig, who focuses mostly on restorative work, said there’s a lot of job satisfaction. “It’s incredibly rewarding to restore a badly broken-down mouth and get an aesthetic result and a functional result and then see the difference in the patient,” he said. “They go from hiding their mouths to beaming from ear to ear.” Craig’s strangest task involved removing a broken tooth from Maxie, a bear at Grandfather Mountain who received the injury when the tooth became snagged on a chain-link fence. But the day-to-day stream of patients also get careful attention, and Craig notes his office staff has little turnover. “It’s fun coming to work,” he said. While the long-term plan is for Robbie to buy a partnership interest in the practice, neither party is in a hurry. “I’ll probably never fully retire, though I guess I’ll slow down,” Craig said. Craig, who provided Robbie’s dental care as his son grew up, said he would be comfortable sitting in the chair with his son wielding the instruments. But, as with retirement, he’s in no hurry for that, either. “Only if it’s needed,” Craig said.