Class of 2010

Patrick "Paddy" Snow. (Danny Abriel Photo)

Both Patrick “Paddy” Snow’s parents — Robert Snow and Patricia Forbes— are dentists. He never thought he’d be one.

“It always seemed when I was younger, looking in people’s mouths all day, it’s not something that interests me, or most people,” he says, “but once I finished my undergrad degree, it seemed like a good idea.”

He spent time with his father, Robert Snow (DDS, 1980), in his dental practice. He saw the community service that he performs. That social connection appealed to him. So the second oldest from a family of nine kids in Newfoundland, decided to come to his parent’s alma mater to be a dentist as well.

This summer, Mr. Snow is returning to St. John’s to work for his father. “There’s a joke in the class, you know, ‘am I going to get minimum wage?’, or ‘am I going to be working for an allowance?’” he laughs.

He enjoys working with his hands and encountering the daily challenges and ethical and social dimensions of the profession.

“I think you have to be more than just a dentist. Not to be known as ‘just a dentist,’ but to be known, whether it be a basketball coach, or a volunteer, or as a community leader in some other way,” Mr. Snow says.

With Dr. Mary McNally, he did research comparing the costs of private dentistry versus the budgetary limits low income families contend with. “It was startling. Certain groups and families have zero money left over for a healthy diet and dental care.”

Trying to figure out how to balance the high costs of running a private practice with the desire to help people who can’t afford health services can be discouraging, but Mr. Snow feels that’s a problem dentists, as private health care professionals, ought to pay more attention to.

Dalhousie programs like Operation Outreach, which offers free dental care to refugees in Canada, help plant the seeds of community service and volunteerism. “Hopefully, this encourages students to think, yeah, this is something I can do in private practice.”