His lengthy career in dental journalism spanned more than 20 years when he served as editor of the Second District Valley Forge Dental Journal and the Montgomery-Bucks Dental Society Bulletin, associate editor of the Pennsylvania Dental Journal, and then editor of the PDJ from 2008-2016.
In Dr. Terry’ s time as editor he won several awards, including the William J. Gies Foundation’ s First Place honor in the editorial competition for 2013 for his editorial“ Oral Health Literacy,” and a 2016 ICD USA Section Journalism Award for his editorial“ Altruism.”
Dr. Terry lives in Wayne with his wife Susan, daughter Caroline( 24) and son Henry( 15).
“ My family is everything,” he said.“ My wife and I met bartending together when I just finished my second year of dental school. She has been my best friend for more than 30 years. Anything that I have done that looks good is because she had a hand in the making of it. At the tender age of eight, just like me, my daughter decided that she wanted to be a dentist. Last month she completed her freshman year at Temple Dental School.”
Dr. Terry has always loved the outdoors. Long before trekking all over the world he was a Boy Scout, camping and hiking and achieving Eagle Scout at the age of 17. Just as he shares dentistry with his daughter, Dr. Terry shares the scouting experience with his son.
“ As an adult Eagle Scout with a 15 year old son, I am devoting many hours to our local scout council and troop. My son should complete his Eagle requirement this year,” he said.
Volunteerism and helping those most in need is very important to Dr. Terry. He works one day every month at the Community Volunteers in Medicine clinic, an experience he describes as“ very rewarding.” Helping to organize the annual MOM-n-PA dental mission the past five years has also been a labor of love for him.
“ You don’ t have to leave the country to make a difference,” he said.“ Patients in our own neighborhoods need our help.”
One would think that his work, organized dentistry commitments and volunteering doesn’ t leave a lot of time for other interests, but Dr. Terry manages to work in his daily training and also finds time for traveling the world with Susan and his children.
“ We do have the travel bug and enjoy places that others wouldn’ t normally see, such as Morocco, Portugal, Patagonia, Ecuador. Susan and my kids love to rock climb and will gladly join me for the day, but prefer to sleep in a hotel if possible,” he said.“ This August Henry and I plan to hike the Tour Du Mont Blanc, a 100 mile trek around the famous Mt. Blanc in Europe.”
Susan and Caroline will be touring the south of France.
“ We will spend eight days and travel through France, Italy and Switzerland. We will be staying in a hut, which is more like a hostel, each night.”
His Antarctic climb was another step closer to his quest to make it to the summit of the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. He has previously climbed Mt. Elbrus in Russia, Denali in Alaska, Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Aconcagua in Argentina.
Dr. Terry trains one to two hours daily and then three to five hours on Saturday and Sunday in order to do the intense mountain climbing he loves.
“ Doing this while spending time with my family, volunteering, being active in organized dentistry, boy scouts, teaching and working means little to no time for sleeping,” he said.
“ My long range goal is to nap when I hit 65.”
That might prove to be more challenging than scaling Everest.
I can’ t imagine not being an involved member. PDA membership has helped me grow as a dentist ever since leaving dental school,”
Henry, Susan, Bruce and Caroline visited Portugal in 2016.
JULY / AUGUST 2017 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL 29