Portrait by Giulio Sciorio

Lidieth Libby

Age: 38
Specialty: Pediatric dentistry
City of practice: Phoenix
Duration of practice: 11 years

How did you get into dentistry?
I got into medicine in general because my dad is a surgeon, and he did a lot of missionary work in Mexico and he took the whole family. I just fell in love with working with people. It was always interesting to me how children were always so happy even though they were so poor. In dental school, it just came very natural for me to do pediatrics.

Why children in particular?
I feel like you can do a lot more for children than you can for adults. You can really make a difference in their lives. If you teach them good habits and how to take care of their teeth when they’re young, they’ll carry that throughout their lives. I think that dentists can have a great impact on children by giving them a good experience. If they are fearful and we can help them overcome that, teach them how to be good patients, how dentistry in reality is not that scary, and have them like dentistry, then they’ll be good patients for life.

What advice do you give parents when it comes to their child’s dental care?
To be involved. You cannot expect children to be able to take care of themselves or be able to brush their own teeth. Tooth brushing is a fine motor skill, and children – young children especially – don’t develop that until they’re about 7, 8 or 9. I always encourage the parents to get involved and to understand that helping children make good choices will make a difference in their lives in general.

What is the most common problem you encounter with patients?
Decay. I see more decay than I would like to see. I think that children nowadays are exposed to more sugar than they need, like juices and bad snacks. Our job is to educate them – not only the children but their parents – on how to make good choices for their kids.

What are some challenges you face in your field?
Just the economy at this point. Obviously the cost of dentistry is high, and a lot of the parents are losing their jobs. They still want to take care of their children, but they’re unable to, so we’re trying to help them. One of the things we do is sit down with them, go through the X-rays and say, “OK, [this is] what really needs to be done now and what can wait.” The big cavities are the ones that we address first. If there are some cavities that are smaller, then we can possibly wait a month or two for the parents to be able get the resources or get a job. I think that’s the biggest challenge at this point.