Growing up as the son of a dentist, there’s always this kind of expectation that you should become a dentist too. Well, growing up, I didn’t really think much about it. Really, I just liked working with my hands. So, growing up it was starting to be like architecture and engineering, eventually cooking, and then I’d get into undergrad at the University of Oklahoma and I decided pre-med, pre-medicine, kind of figure out if I still want to do that because I was still leaning towards I want to help as many people as possible and as you can kind of tell I like to work with my hands. But as I went through the years, eventually, just dentistry started to make sense and so about probably junior year of undergrad that’s when I started to talk to my dad a bit more about dentistry as a profession and how that would fit more with what I want to do.
When you’re in a lot of pain or you’re just not happy with…you know, unable to eat, unable to just even smile or talk because that’s a lot of things we do. As human beings we like to read faces subconsciously and the biggest thing is your smile and your teeth. So, I want to at least, provide something that people are happy with, something that they can use and it’s usually the first sign of health too is taking care of that. Starting off, grew up here in Lawton, graduated in 2012, went to the University of Oklahoma for four years and then went to the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry up in Oklahoma City. Graduated from there pretty recently, about 2022. So, I’m pretty new at this, about to finish my second year of actually working in the dental field and it’s a lot different than school and everything but I’m pretty happy with it all.
There’s only so much dental school can teach you and I’m not taking a hit on what they didn’t teach me, there’s just so much. Part of the first things I wanted to do that I felt like I was lacking in as my first CE courses was treatment planning and case acceptance and kind of understanding how a patient’s bite or their occlusion kind of comes all together so that kind of drives how I can get treatment planned for patients. So, those are the kind of, and I’m still going through taking those courses too because it’s not just I take one course and that’s it, it’s like it kind of builds on itself and then everything else kind of intermingles with just those courses.
MEET THE DENTIST
Trust Your Smile to Eric D. Lopez, DDS
Dr. Eric Lopez grew up in Lawton, Oklahoma, and completed his studies at OU College of Dentistry in 2022. After finishing school, he returned to Lawton to join his father, Dr. Juan R. Lopez, at Lopez Dental Associates.
Outside of work, Dr. Lopez enjoys spending time with his dogs, working out, and cooking. He also has a fondness for reading science fiction books and painting miniatures as a hobby.