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AUBURN — Dr. Caroline Derrow of Auburn became the only board-certified pediatric dentist in northeast Indiana earlier this month.
Derrow is a 2004 graduate of the Indiana University School of Dentistry and completed her pediatric residency at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. She was among only five dentists to be accepted at the hospital.
She started her practice, Auburn Pediatric Dentistry, in Auburn in 2006. She and her husband, Stuart, have two children, Wyatt, 4, and Oliver, 1.
Derrow’s dentistry dreams didn’t begin until after a kind oral surgeon cut out her wisdom teeth — alleviating some nasty headaches she’d been having.
“Doctors thought I had a brain tumor,” Derrow said, “and it turned out to be my wisdom teeth.”
After talking with her father-in-law, Auburn dentist Dr. Donald Derrow, and a professor, she decided to apply to dental school and make a career switch.
Her background is in marine biology. She dove and researched in waters near Maryland and Virginia and in the Florida Keys, where she met her husband, who was working as an archaeologist researching Spanish shipwrecks off the Florida coast.
Derrow applied only to the IU School of Dentistry and was accepted. She became part of IU School of Dentistry’s class with the highest percentage of women to ever join the school. The record has since been broken.
Derrow found dental school challenging and fun. She formed friendships with other women, and they studied and supported one another.
“I didn’t set out to specialize, but I’ve always liked working with kids,” Derrow said, “and I kind of have a knack for it.”
She took three service-learning mission trips with dental, medical and ophthalmology students to Mexico while in dental school. The trips, she said, solidified her goals.
“We would work from sun up to sun down and see all the kids in an entire village,” Derrow recalled.
She got the opportunity to make treatment decisions and run triage. She also gave presentations in Spanish to local school children about clean, healthy smiles.
“It was the first time I had to be responsible. I had a line of 45 kids, and I had to find out what the important thing for each kid was,” said Derrow, who added she did dental work in some of the poorest conditions, including a soccer field with dogs running around and buildings without indoor plumbing or electricity.
“It was so incredible and beautiful. The mountains were phenomenally gorgeous, and then there are people living in abject poverty,” Derrow said.
She thought she should consider pediatric dentistry, since she was having so much fun pulling teeth and performing root canals in Third World.
“I got so much more out of it than what I gave,” Derrow said.
When she returned from her trips, she applied to become a pediatric resident at Riley Hospital for Children, and was one of only five dentists in the nation accepted.
While still completing her residency, she bought the building for her practice in Auburn from Drs. William and C.B. Hathaway with what she calls a small down payment and a handshake.
“They bent over backward to help me. They couldn’t have been more helpful,” she said of the Hathaways. “I felt like they kind of passed the torch to me.”
She saw her first local patients on Nov. 13, 2006.
Derrow set a goal to become board-certified, and how to go through hours-long classes in Chicago and testing in Houston, Texas, before being admitted.
When she received the news of her certification earlier this month, she screamed with excitement — as did her staff, she said.
Derrow’s switch to dentistry from marine biology was a good decision, she said. She’s very happy, and loves Auburn, too.
Today, Derrow’s child-friendly office features finds souvenirs from her sea-faring days and nautical trinkets alongside pictures of cavity-free clients.
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