Description
Dr. Stephen J. Malki completed dental school in 1997 and opened his own practice two years later. His interest in dentistry goes back to the seventh grade, when he used to shadow his childhood dentist and hang out at his office after school. To this day, Dr. Malki loves delivering life-changing dental care to patients who need it most.
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I graduated dental school in 1997. I did a general residency for a year, and then following the residency, I worked for someone for about a year or so and then I decided to open my practice and it was in July of 1999.
So the reason I wanted to be a dentist actually goes back to when I was in the seventh grade. I had a lot of dental issues as a kid, and my parents were constantly taking me to the dentist's office. And my dentist saw that I was taking an interest in what he was doing, so he noticed and he told my mom, he said why don't you bring him in after school and let him hang around my office. So that's what my mom did. My mom would . . . I'd finish school, my mom would drop me off at my dentist's office and I would hang out there, and just kind of watch him and observe him. So really from that time I knew I wanted to be a dentist.
I love working with my hands, I love problem-solving, and more importantly I love helping people. And that's really why I got into it. It's very rewarding and gratifying knowing that someone's coming to you feeling sometimes hopeless or feeling that there is no solution and that you can actually deliver care to them that is life-changing, and that to me is incredible. After years together, it's not so much a doctor-patient relationship, it's more of a friendship.
