By Ameera Steward | For The Birmingham Times
Last September, two days before her 35th birthday, Samantha McCool decided to buy herself a gift—Brookwood Dental Care, located in Homewood, Alabama. That’s right. She officially became the new owner of the practice after working there for more than a decade.
“I knew that was something I really wanted to do,” the Doctor of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.) told The Birmingham Times. “It was going to be something outside of my comfort zone, but I knew I didn’t want to work for just any person … and [have] them tell me what to do my entire life. I wanted to be able to make my own decisions and make something I [could be] proud of.”
“Being a business owner was something I felt was attainable, and I could check all the boxes. … I wanted to [do it] without compromise,” she added.
McCool admits, however, that she was a bit anxious.
“It was scary to buy it, but there came a time when it was like, ‘OK, it’s either you buy this or you let somebody else come in here and potentially change everything you’ve worked so hard for.’ … It was time for me to take [Brookwood Dental Care] and fully transform it into something that I want,” she said.
Serving the Community
Brookwood Dental Care, with seven staff members and two doctors, including McCool, offers services such as general dentistry, checkups, examinations, cleanings fillings, crowns, and bridges, as well as cosmetics, such as veneers.
As the new owner, McCool plans to add additional services like Botox. “Because [dentists] are experts of the head and neck, and we learn all the facial structures and nerves, we can give traditional Botox for cosmetics,” she explained. “There’s also a component [in which] Botox can be used to diminish how much you clench and grind [your teeth], stopping headaches and overworked jaws.”
McCool also wants to add more diversity to her team, build a social media presence, upgrade the practice’s website, and be more involved within the Birmingham community.
“I miss getting out and being able to teach, … give out donations, and [offer] free dental clinics,” she said. “I hope I can do things like that and help people realize that we service [people from] all walks of life.”
A Creature of Habit
Originally from Huron, Michigan, McCool has always wanted to work in the health care industry. Her brother suffered from seizures that were connected to a problem with his heart, something he eventually grew out of. One day he had a seizure that led to him being airlifted to the University of Michigan (U of M) Hospital.
“That was when I was like, ‘I’m going to be a cardiac surgeon.’ That’s the thing I used to say when I was [around] 10. … I wanted to go to the U of M Medical School. … As a kid, you don’t really know what you want to do. I knew I wanted to do these big, bad things, and I didn’t know the first thing about [doing them].”
McCool realized she wouldn’t be a cardiac surgeon, but she still wanted to be a health care provider. In 2002, while she was in eighth grade, her family moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where her mom had a new job.
While attending the city’s Hillcrest High School, McCool started shadowing different doctors to see what type of health care provider she wanted to be. After graduating in 2007, she made her way to the Magic City to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where she continued to shadow doctors while majoring in chemistry with a pre-med track.
“I wasn’t exactly sure about what I wanted to do,” she said. “When I started getting ready to graduate, I wasn’t really that interested in [pre-med anymore].”
McCool received two pieces of advice that led her to dentistry.
Her husband of 11 years, Josh McCool, with whom she has a 3-year-old son, believed she would enjoy dentistry because, he told her, “You love looking at people’s smiles.”
The other advice came from one of her peers, who told McCool she should visit Brookwood Dental Care, where Robert Connor, D.M.D., had an office. She shadowed him for a day or two, and from then on she knew exactly where she wanted to be.
Love for Dentistry
After realizing she wanted to be a dentist, McCool spent her last semester taking art and sculpting classes to improve her hand skills. She graduated from UAB in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a minor in biology.
“[Brookwood Dental Care] hired me, … and I worked as a dental assistant for almost two years,” she said. “Being able to work alongside Dr. Connor was something I woke up every single day and did, and I could see myself doing it in the future. … That really solidified my love for dentistry.”
McCool started attending the UAB School of Dentistry in 2014 and graduated in 2017. A month after graduation she went from being a dental assistant to a dentist at Brookwood Dental Care.
In 2018, Connor sold the practice to another dentist, Paul Barganier, D.M.D., who sold it to McCool last year
“I’m a creature of habit,” McCool said. “I don’t love change, and I felt like I had gone through so many iterations. … [I was asking myself], … ‘What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?’ There had been so many highs and lows.”
“I had put so much time and effort into building the team,” she added, speaking about Brookwood Dental Care. “I hired every single one of the people, other than one. … I’d put so much time [into] connecting with patients and building my brand. … That was the only place where I felt like I needed to be.”
McCool expressed that she wants those who come into her office to get the best Brookwood Dental Care has to offer.
“I’m a caring and compassionate person who just cares about the people that come into her life and come into her practice, and I’m eager to show people that,” she said.
“When [you] walk into the door of our office, I hope [you] feel cared for by every single person that is in the office because I hand-selected them to be there. … I also want to make dentistry more comfortable. I just want to be a good ally wherever I can, wherever I’m needed.”
To learn more about Brookwood Dental Care, visit brookwooddental.com.
