Evan Parker knew in high school that he was interested in some sort of career in the medical field. He just wasn’t certain exactly which profession to pursue. So Parker did what most people do these days. He Googled it.
“I had to decide what I could look at every day for 30-plus years. So I Googled the human body,” Parker says. “I scrolled around and landed on teeth. I started researching dentistry and thought it was interesting. That’s really when I first decided that dentistry was what I wanted to do.”
Parker is soon to venture down that career path as part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry class of 2026. The Florence native says it is moment that almost didn’t occur. That’s because Parker briefly second-guessed his decision shortly after arriving at UAB in 2018 as an undergrad and hearing a dental student use the phrase, “the artistry of dentistry.”
“I’m not artistic at all. So I started to wonder,” Parker says. “But one of the great things about UAB is there are all these options to shadow other specialties. I shadowed a lot of them, and none stuck out to me the way dentistry did.”
In fact, Parker says it was a moment during one of his first dental shadowing experiences that convinced him he had indeed found his career calling. He was present when a woman received the final crown in a series of procedures that had transformed both her teeth and her attitude.
“When I saw the smile on her face, I knew this (dentistry) was something that would help give my life purpose,” Parker says. “I want to be able to impact the community in that way. Help people regain confidence in their smile. Give them the ability to chew again. Help get them out of pain. That calling of service is what really made me interested in this.”
As a UAB dental student, Parker says he feels well-prepared to provide that service. In addition to receiving a tremendous amount of classroom knowledge (“It can feel like drinking water from a firehouse, there’s just so much information,” Parker says), SOD students are provided with a wide array of clinic opportunities.
“The patient base we see in clinic is very diverse, from all walks of life. So I’ve already worked with just about every type of patient that I’ll see in the professional world,” Parker says. “UAB has very in-depth clinical requirements, and that’s given me the knowledge to go straight into general practice with the confidence of knowing that I’ve already done this multiple times.”
Upon graduation, Parker says he hopes to join an existing dental practice, possibly back in northern Alabama. Eventually, he says he might pursue a specialty in endodontics. But in the near term, Parker is ready to put aside the books and start looking at some teeth every day.
“I want to get out in the field and serve the community.” Parker says. “I’m very thankful for the path I ended up on.”