Dr. Andrew Pocock is Sequim’s new dentist, after purchasing Dr. Anthony Brock’s dental office in Sequim. His first day of doing business in Sequim as “Advanta Dental” was April 20.

After growing up on a farm in Idaho, Pocock earned his degree in Colorado and worked in Billings, Mont., for five years. About six months ago, he started looking for a change from the extremes in weather. Pocock, who has a brother in Seattle, started seeking out opportunities in the western U.S. He found a listing that a business (Brock’s) was for sale and made the visit to Sequim. “I just fell in love with it right away,” he says.

Pocock moved to the area with his wife, Theresa, and three children — a 5-year-old daughter and 8- and 1-year-old sons.

Pocock’s business is accepting new patients, offering services such as dentures, implants, extractions, root canals, cleanings, fillings and crowns. Children are welcome, with free exams for those under the age of 6. Pocock’s office at 321 Sequim Ave. #D is open 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Thursday, with some Friday appointments available by request. Call 683-5700, e-mail AdvantaDental@gmail.com or see AdvantaDental.Net.

Pocock described an incident that inspired him to pursue the dentistry profession:

“I was a kid, about 10 years old, and I was in a car with my sister Lisa and we were coming back from church. We were involved in a car accident. I face-planted it into the dash and knocked out one of my front teeth. Both of us were knocked out.

When I came to, I looked down at my shirt. I looked down at my white shirt and it was covered in blood. I felt something and I reached up. My tooth was hanging by a couple of threads. So I pulled it out and put it in the pocket of my church shirt.

The next thing I know people were pulling me and my sister out of the car and laying us on the ground. They saw that my tooth was missing — it was an adult tooth. They were looking for my tooth.

When I finally realized what they were looking for and making such a ruckus about, I said, ‘Oh, is this what you’re looking for?’ and pulled out my tooth. I can still remember the look on their faces.

They ran me to the dentist — Neil Kunz — and he fixed me up. I’ve still got the tooth today.

Neil was my childhood dentist for a long time and really my mentor. I watched him do procedures by other people and shadowed him. He was really my foot in the door into dentistry. He was my inspiration and the reason I became a dentist. I wanted to be able to treat patients as well as he treated people. I’ve still got fillings that he did.

That’s the kind of dentist I want to be. When I fix something, I want it to stay there for a long, long time.”

Everyone has a story and now they have a place to tell it. Verbatim is a first-person column that introduces you to your neighbors as they relate in their own words some of the difficult, humorous, moving or just plain fun moments in their lives. It’s all part of the Gazette’s commitment as your community newspaper. If you have a story for Verbatim, contact editor Michael Dashiell at editor@sequimgazette.com.