One thing stood out for Coleman Wright when he received his initial class schedule earlier this year as an incoming D.M.D. student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry.
“I noticed that they have us in the pre-clinical dentistry lab right away,” Wright says. “I’ve always heard that when students come out of dental school at UAB, they’re clinically ready to practice on day one. That’s because they get you started with clinic so quickly.”
The ability to have such an up-close view of the dental profession is nothing new for Wright. Not only is his father, Clayton Wright, a practicing dentist in Dothan (and a 2001 graduate of the UAB SOD), but his mother works in that office as an administrator. In addition, Coleman has a great uncle (another SOD grad) who was a practicing orthodontist. So dentistry has long been a major part of Wright’s life.
“I was always in my dad’s office hanging out. I wanted to get my teeth cleaned just about every week,” Wright says. “I got to see my dad work hands-on with the patients, and I also got to see the business side of things with my mom.
“During my senior year (at Providence Christian School in Dothan), my dad wanted me to shadow other dentists. That way I wasn’t learning from just one. I really got to see the relationships that dentists can build with their patients. There’s a personal connection dentists can make, and I love that aspect. I’m a big people-person. I’ve always wanted to be able to help people, and I think dentistry is a great profession to be able to do that.”
Wright began his college education at Wallace Community College in Dothan (where he also played on the baseball team), before finishing at Troy University with a degree in biomedical science. Wright then took a year off from school and worked full time at a dental lab in Dothan, learning about such procedures as setting dentures and waxing teeth.
Wright returned to college last year as part of the Rural Dental Scholar Program. He spent a year studying at the University of Alabama’s College of Community Health Sciences, where he received a master’s degree in rural community health, before starting classes at the UAB SOD.
“I always had my eye on UAB when I was considering dental schools,” Wright says. “My dad and great uncle went here, so it’s kind of like a family tradition that I wanted to keep going.”
Wright says his father was reluctant to give him much advice about dental school, preferring instead for Wright to “keep an open mind and form my own opinions about it.” But his father did stress to him the importance of creating bonds with his SOD class.
“He told me that my classmates will be like family for four years, and that I’ll keep up with most of them for the rest of my life,” Wright says. “So I want to build great relationships with my classmates whenever I can.”
While his time at the UAB SOD is just starting, Wright already has plans for the future. He says he wants to live up to the purpose of the Rural Dental Scholar Program and begin practicing general dentistry in a rural area, preferably back in the Headland / Dothan area.
“I plan to keep my options open, but I really hope I can go back and work in my hometown,” Wright says. “There are so many people there who have helped me my whole life. It’s time for me to give back to them.”