Employee Spotlight: Lori Dodge

Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH), Lori Dodge, was completing her license in dental hygiene when a friend suggested she apply for a position to work with Dr. John Di Girolamo, in Ambler. She ended up working with Dr. Di Girolamo until his sudden passing in 2017. The Ambler office is now part of Pennsylvania Center for Dental Implants and Periodontics. Says Lori, with nostalgia, “It all started for me more than 30 years ago!

“When Dr. Di Girolamo passed away, it was a devastating time for all the staff and challenging practice-wise,” she recalls. “But we were so lucky to have Dr. Fava coming in to help out, to have him eventually purchase the practice and also to have Doctors Schoenebeck and Fava on board in Ambler as periodontists —we couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Lori attributes the longevity of her employment to the relationship she has with the doctors and staff with whom she works. She also says that she still experiences great satisfaction from her relationship with her patients, some for whom she has been providing professional cleanings since the very start of her career.

“One of my patients has been with me all along,” she says. “I’ve been cleaning her teeth for 33 years!”

When not working, hiking, weight training, or simply taking care of her “fur children” (three cats), Lori and her husband, Don, like to travel. While away, they make a point of visiting local breweries to research and sample the products. The self-described “beer snob” normally sticks to micro-brewed beer. She prefers IPAs; her husband goes for stouts and porters.

“We also brewed and bottled ourselves for ‘five minutes’ and quickly decided it was more fun to go away, explore and make our interest into an adventure, hiking, biking and then sampling the local beers.”

Lori takes great pride in her job.

“We’re the doctors and therapists of the mouth, and mouth health is a great indicator of the health elsewhere in the body,” she relays. “As one example, a patient came in to us with a small tongue lesion. We suggested he see an oral surgeon. At the end of what turned into being a long battle with oral cancer, the patient came back to us and hugged me, telling me that I helped save his life.”

To make an appointment with Lori or one of our other fabulous hygienists at either our Ambler or NE Philadelphia office, contact us today!