Our people: Small town dentist

For the last four years, Aaron Standing has claimed Clovis, New Mexico as his home. For the Utah native, avid skier, and mountaineering enthusiast - eastern New Mexico was a far cry from what he was used to. But when Standing decided to purchase Eastern Family Dentistry and begin practicing as a dentist in Portales, he quickly came to appreciate what this area has to offer.

During his time here, Standing and his wife have welcomed two children to their family. As a family, they enjoy the family friendly aspects of the area and looking for ways to give back.

Q: What is your favorite thing about living in this area?

A: My favorite thing about living in eastern New Mexico is the good people. They're down to earth. They have good hearts, and they are the exact type of people that I would like to associate with.

Q: How did you end up here? What brought you to Clovis and Portales?

A: One of my first jobs out of dental school was in another small town in New Mexico. So I already had my New Mexico dental license. I knew that I wanted to own a practice somewhere, and this was one of the first areas that popped up with an available practice for sale. My wife and I already knew we enjoyed living in a small town, so this area fit what we were looking for.

Q: What is your biggest life goal or dream?

A: My cousin and I have always talked about climbing Mount Rainier. I really enjoy hiking and climbing mountains. One day I would like to hike the highest points of at least the lower 48 states. If I can get good enough at mountaineering, maybe even all 50 states.

Q: What made you want to become a dentist?

A: I had a fairly close family member when I was growing up, who was a dentist, and he was probably my primary inspiration. I like that he owned his own business and so he had a lot of control over the hours that he worked and to a certain extent, the type of work he did.

So I'd probably say that he was my biggest influence.

Q: What is the hardest part of your job?

A: I enjoy extracting teeth but I know that people don't like to get their teeth taken out. That makes it hard because I feel sympathy and I empathize with people when they have to have teeth extracted - but at the same time I also really enjoy the surgical aspects of my job.

Q: If you could go anywhere and do anything for a day, what would it be? And where?

A: I would probably go skiing at Whistler in British Columbia, Canada. I've always wanted to do that.

Q: You live in Clovis but work in Portales. In your experience, what is the biggest difference between those two communities?

A: The biggest difference between those communities is, I feel like the Air Force has a slightly bigger presence in Clovis. There are a lot of airmen down in Portales too. But I think generally there are more in Clovis. Overall though, I think that the people in both towns are very similar; they're good people. Obviously the weather is about the same, so I would say probably just that there's a little bit more of an Air Force presence in Clovis.

Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?

A: I would probably say that my favorite childhood memories are just anytime that we would get together as a family - whether it was going on vacations together with my immediate family, or going to big 4th of July or Memorial Day celebrations with our extended family. In general, anytime I got to socialize with my family made for a good memory.

Q: What advice would you give anyone considering a career in dentistry?

A: I'll give the advice that I wish someone had given me - what I wish I had known and understood better before I became a dentist. Unfortunately with dentistry, there is a certain element of discomfort that I put people in as part of my job. That is totally opposite of my personality. I think if I would have known more about that, I may have given more sober thought before deciding to become a dentist.

Overall, the positive aspects of dentistry do outweigh the negative. I really enjoy working with people and ultimately helping people get out of pain in the long run. Even if it means patients have to endure a little bit more pain to get to a pain free state. It's very satisfying to help people in that way. But there is an element of short term discomfort that is difficult for me.

Q: What is the best advice you've ever received in your life?

A: My dad used to always say that life is a game, and you have to learn the rules of the game, and play by the rules. He would say you just have to figure out how to play the game. I think there's a lot of different ways to interpret that but I would say that is some of the best advice I've ever received. The longer I live the more I realize that he was 100% right.