Long before he ever earned the title of Doctor of Dentistry or the intricacies of periodontal techniques, Kevin Purviance knew the work was, literally, in his blood. As
a boy, he walked down the stairs of his family’s Glastonbury house to ask his
father for permission to go fishing or visit friends. His dad’s family dental
practice was on the house’s first floor. And the boy, eventually, would come to
experience the same rewards as his father: the satisfaction of solving the
problems of others.
When
Kevin Purviance graduated from UConn’s School of Dentistry, it was his father,
Dr. David Purviance, who placed the ceremonial hood over him. The younger Purviance would go on to
specialize in periodontal work, a field that had fascinated him since he did
research work during his school years as an intern in Buffalo.
As
Kevin explains (most of his patients call him that, rather than the more formal
form of address that his father was accustomed to), “I thought I would be like
my dad -- open a general practice. That was the logical route
-- I could step right into his practice. But some of the research I was doing at UConn
got me interested in periodontal disease.”
And once I Saw first hand how the effects of
dental health impacted your over all health I was hooked on periodontal
disease. started treating patients as a student there I knew this is the
work I would enjoy most because that’s where I could help people the most.”
The
idea of service to people was reinforced during his dental training when he
went to Peru with fellow students. They spent time in the Amazon River basin,
taking the boat daily upriver, stopping at villages to treat patients, many of
whom had never seen a dentist. He remembers in a particular a little boy, about
four years old. “He was crying when he came in, and sitting with his mother.”
By the time Kevin finished with him, he felt he had learned how to win over
even the most reluctant of patients.