When University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry alum Scott Long, DMD, retired from his private practice in 2013, he began traveling the world with his wife. And while he says these journeys certainly have been enjoyable, it turns out that one of Long’s most gratifying trips has taken place right in his hometown of Dothan.
After UAB School of Dentistry opened its first community clinic – UAB Dentistry Dothan – in 2024, the facility’s inaugural director – fellow SOD alum Nancy Covert, DMD – approached Long about possibly volunteering with the clinic’s students. Long was skeptical at first, primarily because he had been out of dentistry for more than a decade (though he kept his dental license current) and had never done any sort of teaching or instructional work in his career.
“I hadn’t even been considering anything like that,” Long says. “But after thinking about it, I decided it would be a good way to help out my community and give back to my alma mater.”
So with a bit of trepidation and relatively low expectations, Long began overseeing the students at the clinic every Wednesday that he was in town. It quickly became one of the highlights of his week, and it is a role he continues nearly three years later.
“It’s surprised me how much I’ve enjoyed it,” Long says. “At first, I was just thinking I’d come out see how it goes. I was afraid it was going to be stressful and feel too much like work. But once I got there, it was very rewarding. Now it’s something that I really look forward to in my retirement life.
“It’s been fun for me to get back into dentistry, and especially to work with the students. They’re such bright individuals. They’re so knowledgeable and highly skilled. It’s just been a joy to be around them.”
Covert was the only dentist on staff when the Dothan clinic opened. While she says the patient volume did not require the addition of any other full-time dentists, she needed a few volunteers to assist on a regular basis. Long was a natural choice, since Covert has known him for approximately 25 years through their mutual memberships in the UAB SOD Alumni Association as well as the Alabama Dental Association.
“Once Dr. Long and I started discussing teaching the dental students here in Dothan, I learned about his love and passion for all things in dentistry but specifically oral surgery,” Covert says. “That was great news to me, because we have many patients who need oral surgery, and all the students need to have a skilled and proficient clinician to teach those skills. Dr. Long was an answer to a prayer.”
Long has been a lifelong Dothan resident except for the time he spent at UAB, where he received his undergraduate degree in natural science and mathematics, followed by his dental degree in 1992. He says he appreciates what the current SOD students are going through because he calls his years in the program “the most demanding thing I’ve ever done.”
“It was a tough program. It required so much time,” Long says. “You had to be committed. You lived and breathed it. You had to be somewhere every day from 8 to 5, Monday through Friday. Then after we’d leave at 5, we’d get something to eat and go back to the apartment and sit there and review everything.
“The great thing was the faculty were very encouraging. They wanted to see us do well and pushed us to do well. They taught us to strive for perfection.”
Now, Long is bringing that same level of encouragement to the students at the UAB Dentistry Dothan clinic. And according to new clinic director Hamida Shirazy, DMD, FAGD, he is doing so with “a level of excitement and energy that the students enjoy.”
“He just comes in bubbling with energy, bouncing and ready to go,” Shirazy says. “He jumps in and helps with every situation. He creates an opportunity for the students to see how a dentist in private practice interacts with patients and makes them feel comfortable. That’s very valuable.”
“Even though he’s retired from practice, he’s still excited about dentistry. And that excitement translates to the students.”
As far as Long is concerned, however, it is his interaction with the students that helps create that excitement in the first place.
“Dentistry is my career and lifelong passion, and this reignited that after being out of dentistry for so many years,” Long says. “It’s given me a new spark about dentistry. Because when I was doing it for my own practice for 20 years, I got a little burned out. But now I’ve got a fire started for it again.”