Tiffany Simmons

I went to dental school at UNLV School of Dental Medicine as part of its inaugural class from 2002-2006. My mother was a dentist and my father a dental assistant, so I grew up around dentistry my whole life, even doing two science fair projects relating to different aspects of dentistry. I saw how much my mother loved dentistry and caring for her patients and I wanted that for myself. I wanted to make a positive impact on patients’ dental experiences. I met my husband in college and when he said he wanted to be a dentist we decided to do it together. When I am not working, I am very busy taking my 3 children, ages 14, 11 and 6 to their various extracurricular activities. We have had many pets but currently we have a fish, a bunny and a dog! When I have time, I like to play my cello and do craft projects. I like working with Big Smiles because we have the opportunity to help children get a better start in life with their dental health. We get to make an impact in children across Phoenix and its surrounding cities. It is very rewarding seeing the kids have a positive experience with the dentist. We were even able to treat two patients from Ukraine recently. Because they could not speak English, we were able to use Google Translate and communicate clearly to them what we were going to do for them. One of the children was about 9 years old. When he first came in, he was quietly crying to himself because he did not know what was happening. With the help of Google Translate I was able to explain to him step by step how we were going to take good care of him and that he could trust us. By the end of the appointment, he went from being a very scared and lonely child to a very happy and comforted little boy! It is something I will never forget! I lived in Incirlik, Turkey between the ages of 5-8 years old. It was really neat living in a foreign country, learning a little bit of their language and experiencing their culture.