Dental Hygiene Month is upon us. While it may be easy to skip the floss or avoid your six-month checkups, Dr. Bob Maley, DDS, of Dr. Bob Maley Family Dentistry says it’s just not worth it.
“Dentistry is not just about teeth,” Maley says. “Lots of things in the mouth can predict and affect the health of the rest of your body.”
Maley recommends finding a practice where you feel comfortable with your provider, so going to the dentist is less daunting.
“Getting to know [a patient] is just as important as looking at their medical history,” he says. “You should be able to talk to each other and form a good doctor-patient relationship.”
Maley emphasizes this element at his practice, which seeks to create a small-town feel in a big city. “By starting my own practice, I was able to create an environment where I could bring the best aspects of the industry to the patients without constraints,” he says.
Maley went to the University of St. Thomas for his undergraduate degree. He then went on to study dentistry at the University of Minnesota, thanks to the encouragement of his mother. Since then, he’s lived in Saint Paul—“longer than I lived anywhere else.”
Maley and his wife, who have two adult children, live in Highland Park and the city feels like home, he says. “I no longer consider myself a transplant,” he says, noting that he grew up in Edina. “I think of myself as a true St. Paulite.”
