What are you looking forward to and enjoying about the fall and winter seasons in Utah? Fall colors in Deer Valley, Utah. Well, I look forward to and enjoy fall a lot more than I enjoy winter in Utah! Fall in Utah is so beautiful. The colors are spectacular, the temperatures are gorgeous, and the air is fresh and it is just such a revitalizing time! The only bad part about it is looking down the barrel of winter and the inversion we get here in Utah, along with the freezing cold weather, snow, and ice. They're not my favorite, just because I love working outside, but we get through it!

1. This month we’re launching our My Smile is Powerful Opalescence® Whitening Systems campaign. What does the phrase, “my smile is powerful” mean to you? We firmly believe that all smiles are powerful. The phrase “my smile is powerful” relates back to the things I’ve been saying in my lectures for years. The smile—the lips and the teeth—are the number one body language communicator. In fact, statistics show that when people first meet, 50% of people look at the other person’s eyes first, and the other 50% notice the smile and teeth first. A thousand words can be communicated in an instant with a smile. It’s a fabulous communicator! It radiates the inner feeling and soul of the other person, and it enables them to communicate beyond words, or it accentuates words in an instant. It is so powerful.

Our Icons of Dentistry: A Workshop for Women event is coming up next month. What unique aspects do you think women bring to the dental industry? There’s not one lecture I give where I don’t emphasize the strong and incredible dimension that women bring to dentistry. I always give the example of Dr. Patty Lewis, a pediatric dentist in New York who has since sadly passed. She pointed out to me and a number of male pediatric dentists many things about pediatric caries and bottle mouth syndrome. I learned so much from her. I also have a daughter, Dr. Jaleena Jessop, who is a fantastic dentist and is so detail-oriented. In fact, thanks to her sensibilities and attention to detail, we now put lip balm on our patients in the office. Women are also so great at technical work. They have a sensitive, soft touch and display beautiful artistry in their esthetic dental work. Another thing Dr. Jessop pointed out to me in my own dental practice is that we needed a softer bite block. The harder one was uncomfortable for our patients, so we made a softer one and now it’s all I use. Women bring such a sense of class, gentleness, and attention to detail to dentistry that men don’t.

How did you support yourself when you were still in dental school? By being conscious of every bit of money it took. I bought my own books and a lot of my own instruments. We didn’t have anyone in the family earning money but myself. I grew up in construction, so I had my toolbox and power saw. I did remodeling work and had a job with the University’s facilities department. I poured concrete driveways and sidewalks.

If you could choose anything, aside from being a dentist, what would you do as a profession? When I was a young boy, I often thought about hydraulic engineering, because that was the cutting edge of engineering at the time. I’m still fascinated by hydraulics. There are so many wonderful developments that have occurred just in my lifetime in that realm—through World War II and the hydraulics used in the war efforts, to hydraulics used in excavating. We even use hydraulics to a lesser degree at Ultradent, which brought about the trademark syringe delivery method that Ultradent has become known for.

If you could relive one happy memory, what would it be? Boy, there are so many happy memories. Certainly, with my 14 kids and 33 grandkids, as well as my lovely bride, Leenie—there are so many great memories that picking one above the others would just be impossible. Top: Dr. Fischer enjoying Barcelona with his wife, Leenie. Bottom: Dr. Fischer loves spending time with his grandkids. Do you have any hidden talents? You know, I’m just a farmboy at heart. I’m not too complicated and pretty much what you see is what I am. But some people out there might not know that I love to garden, I love carpentry, and I love tractors and my backhoe. I love being outdoors feeling the earth beneath my hands and feet and the sunshine on my face.

What is your favorite time of the year and why? My favorite time of the year is spring, and it’s because of all the new life in every form. I love the fresh colors of the new sprouting buds and grasses. It’s that zest of new life. Otherwise, I would choose fall, but with fall you’re always looking down the gun barrel to winter. With spring, you at least have summer ahead, and that’s a much more pleasant thought.

What would be your ideal way to spend a weekend? It would probably be going to a nice movie and going out to dinner, then maybe staying overnight in a nice hotel with my bride. Dr. Fischer and his wife, Leenie What do you do when you need to recharge your batteries and decompress? The best thing for me to do is to get on my backhoe and start digging. It requires full focus and you just have to push everything out of your brain in order to operate that big hydraulic machine! I love working in my yard!