Ask any endodontist who completed their endodontic residency at UAB or the Birmingham VA hospital from 2000 to 2019 about Dr. Larry Alley, and chances are they’ll crack a big smile and start gushing.
“Dr. Alley was a great mind and a great person to learn from. He was well-regarded in the endodontic community and just a wonderful person to be around,” remembers Dr. Chris Budig ’08.
“My residency was a phenomenal experience,” said Dr. Vimal Chheda, ’16. “I learned so much from Dr. Alley and Dr. Eleazer, and it provided me with such a great foundation from an academic standpoint that I was able to pursue and obtain board certification not too long after my residency ended.”
“Dr. Alley’s the salt of the earth, and I don’t think there are many who would say he wasn’t their favorite professor,” said Dr. Phillip Faucette, ’14.
And the feeling is mutual, as Dr. Alley recalls his time on faculty with the Endodontic Department with great fondness as well.
“I just loved working with and helping the residents from the clinical aspect. I think it really made a difference for them.”
Larry grew up in Birmingham and was set to go to Birmingham Southern for college until he received a track scholarship to run at the University of Alabama.
“I was a distance runner, so I ran the mile and two-mile events as well as cross country. I was just good enough to get a free ride but not good enough to be great!” joked Dr. Alley. “I was a chemistry major and people thought I was crazy for running track and studying chemistry. Most of my fellow student athletes were studying business or physical education, but I knew I wanted to pursue dentistry. It was difficult though because distance running was year round with cross country in the fall and track in the spring. I had to arrange for all of my labs to be at night since we had practice in the afternoons.”
Larry married his wife Linda in 1964, and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1971. The couple then moved to Birmingham so Larry could attend the University of Alabama Dental School. He’d go to class during the day and then worked thirty to forty hours a week in the University Hospital ICU at night.
“That was really tough, but I gained a lot of great experience. On top of it all, we also had to do all of our own lab work – we couldn’t send anything except frontal crowns. So in addition to my job at the ICU, I was also spending a lot of time in the lab at night.”
Despite those long days and nights, Dr. Alley can still look back on his time in dental school and laugh about old memories.
“Twice I thought I was going to get kicked out of the dental school! My late brother-in-law flew in the Air Force with an SR-71 squadron during the Vietnam War. Those SR-71’s flew top secret reconnaissance missions, and my brother-in-law had shared with me some information about their missions and of course I went out and told my classmates. I was sitting in class one day and the registrar came in and told me that there was a person from Air Force Security downstairs who wanted to talk to me. I just knew they’d somehow found out what I’d been telling my classmates. But it turns out the colonel who came just wanted to talk about a guy I’d previously ran track with who was being considered for a position of honor with the Air Force.”
“The second time I thought I’d certainly be kicked out of school happened during my sophomore year. I had a gross anatomy lab exam coming up, and students are forbidden from taking body parts out of the lab. Well my three lab partners and I smuggled out a midsagittal section of a human head and neck to study with. I lived about three blocks from the School and it was kept in formaldehyde in my fridge. One morning about 2:00 am, I was driving over to a cohort’s apartment to study for the exam with the head sitting on my front seat and I got pulled over by the police! I managed to stick the head under the seat and the cop didn’t notice it, but I thought for sure I was in deep trouble. The good news is that I ended up doing really well on that exam!”
Larry’s work ethic and sense of humor helped him excel as a dental student. It was during his senior year that he decided he wanted to pursue endodontics.
“It was a natural fit for me and I really enjoyed it. Most of the patients who endodontists treat are in a lot of pain, and so when you’re the one responsible for getting them out of pain, you become good friends! That’s what I love about the specialty: it’s immediate gratification.”
During his residency, Dr. Alley was approached by Richard Oliver, a banker from Huntsville, who convinced him to open a practice there.
“At the time, I didn’t much care for bankers because one had recently turned me down for a simple loan. So when he asked me how much I’d need to set up shop in Huntsville, I lied to him and told him I needed much more than I actually did! My first day practicing, I saw four patients. The next day, I saw eight. And then by the second week, I was already working ten-hour days. I was the only endodontist north-to-south between Nashville and Birmingham, and east-to-west from Atlanta to Memphis.
After 27 years of practicing alone in Huntsville, Larry and his wife moved to Birmingham in 2000. All three of their sons, – Larry, Jr., Christopher, and Bradley – were out of the house and the couple decided they needed to be closer to their own aging parents. It was at this time that Dr. Alley decided to work in private practice just three days a week and spend two days at the School. Within four years, Dr. Alley would go from just two days at the School to five days a week.
“I really enjoyed teaching because there was no stress. My problem in Huntsville was that I was covered up all the time. I couldn’t take a vacation and I didn’t get to spend time with my family like I wanted. But teaching was flexible and enjoyable. I continued teaching in some capacity until 2019 when I decided it was time to fully retire.”
Recently, the Endodontic Department at UAB has decided to name an endowed professorship after Dr. Alley and his friend and colleague, Dr. Paul Eleazer. The Dr. Paul Eleazer & Dr. Larry Alley Endowed Professorship in Endodontics is a $500,000 endowment currently being funded through the generosity of alumni whose lives were touched by the two professors during their time at the School.
“It’s an honor, and I really appreciate it,” said Dr. Alley of having his name associated with the endowment. “And I appreciate all those former students and residents who have contributed to it. Those residents were like my kids, and I simply loved my time with them!”