Portrait by Giulio Sciorio

Roger Briggs & Bradley Briggs

Ages: Roger 61, Brad 33
Specialty: General and cosmetic/restorative dentistry
City of practice: Scottsdale
Duration of practice: Roger has been practicing for 36 years in Scottsdale. Roger and his son Brad have been working together for nine years.

How did you get into dentistry?
BB: I grew up around it. I worked in the dental office my whole life. I would file charts, and I worked as a dental assistant in the summer, so I was able to see what a dentist does, and when I decided I wanted to become a dentist I got to go see what an oral surgeon does and observe an oral surgeon’s office. So growing up with it, I figured out that I really liked working with my hands, and I still do.

What attracted you to cosmetic and restorative dentistry?
BB: I went to [Northern Arizona University] for college, and I was an art major in college, so I was doing just basic art classes, and I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do. But dentistry is really an art, and a lot of what we do is little detail work with matching colors. It’s like I get to do arts and crafts all day.
RB: The fun part about it is making smiles for people.
That’s such a big part of dentistry; I think if you’ve got
some artistic depth, dentistry is kind of the natural
direction to go to. I took a lot of [art] classes and
sculpting classes.


What are some challenges you face in your field?
BB: One of the things that we’re really trying to inform the public about is, being a border state, there are some risks in going to Mexico for dental work. That’s not to say that there’s not some good dentists down in Mexico, but that’s something that we feel, as a dental association and as a dentist, [that there isn’t] the same standard of care that we have here in the United States. It is totally different. The education requirements and… the materials they’re using, how much schooling they’ve gone to and what they even know is different. So as a border state, lots of people go down because it’s inexpensive, and we see some people that come back have been hurt and damaged from work down there.


You’ve worked a lot withdiabetic patients. Is this typical for a dentist?
RB: We all have training in dental school about how to deal with diabetic patients. That’s not something special. But my advanced training focuses a lot on it. Over the years, some of the most rewarding patients that I’ve been able to help are patients that have diabetes and not focused on their dental health, and they came to me and found out that their periodontal disease and their diabetes go hand in hand.


What is it like to work together as father and son?
RB: It’s fun working together. With his recent training and my long-term practice experience, we bring both of those to the table, and we both look at things from a different perspective.

What would you be if you weren’t a dentist?
RB: I’d be a fishing guide.
BB: I would live in Hawaii and be a surfing instructor in the summer and a ski instructor in the winter.