This article is part of a series focusing on the grads of the Dalhousie Class of 2025. Spring Convocation takes place May 30 and from June 9-19 in Halifax and Truro. Read all our profiles聽here in one place聽as they are published.
The day after he graduates from dental school, James 鈥� Jimmy 鈥� Hall (DDS鈥�25) will climb into his Honda Ridgeline truck and begin the 84-hour, 7,887-kilometre drive to Alaska, where he will begin his dentistry career.
Jimmy鈥檚 mother is riding shotgun on the trip, which will take them west across Canada and then north into Yukon before they reach Wasilla, Alaska鈥檚 fourth-largest city (pop. 9,700). Reckoning that the cab of a truck over that sort of distance is no place for a youngster, Jimmy鈥檚 wife, Chandler, and their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Hali, will fly to Alaska separately.
Jimmy has created an itinerary for the journey on his phone, with links to hotels along the route. It鈥檚 a big deal, but in 2021 the couple drove from St. George, Utah, to Halifax so that Jimmy could study dentistry and Chandler could qualify as a nurse practitioner.
It was a training run of sorts, although they didn鈥檛 know it at the time.
The journey begins
Jimmy鈥檚 journey into dentistry started farther back, however. The son of a dentist and one of 12 kids in a 鈥測ours, mine, ours鈥� blended family, Jimmy enjoyed video games and tinkering with technology when he was young. He wanted to be a veterinarian until allergies intervened. At the same time, he was also playing around in his father鈥檚 in-house lab, where the lab technician helped him make little sculptures from wax and bouncy balls from impression material.
At 16, Jimmy decided to attend the dental assisting school his father ran because it would enable him to get a good job 鈥� initially in his father鈥檚 practice 鈥� and help him to keep a car on the road.
In high school, Jimmy enjoyed chemistry, graphic art and design, and woodworking. But he admits that he wasn鈥檛 the best student. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 put in a lot of effort. Like, I never did homework. At college, I really had to kick it around to do a lot better.鈥�
Epiphanies along the way
He attended Utah Valley University in Orem, where he studied chemistry and biology. Outside classes, he was also putting his dental-assisting skills to good use in a group of practices, now known as Dentive, that had invested in technology, including digital scanning. It was an eye-opening moment for Jimmy, who suddenly realized how cool dentistry could be.
Jimmy also enjoyed working as part of a group and even as a pre-dental student was sent on conferences and continuing education courses alongside his dentistry colleagues. He often designed crowns and digital guides on his iPad, which were then milled in the office.
鈥淚 was doing a lot of digital workflow planning and helping the group to figure how to do orthodontic retainers and other things like that,鈥� says Jimmy. 鈥淭hey were even talking about making me COO of the digital department.鈥�
But at that point, Jimmy knew he wanted to be a dentist. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to be the dental assistant who was helping with technology. I wanted to be the prescriber.鈥�
Jimmy鈥檚 epiphany regarding his career direction overlapped with another aha moment at university. Through a good friend studying at a different Utah university, Jimmy met Chandler, who was training to be a nurse, and they were married on December 31, 2015, at the end of Jimmy鈥檚 first university semester.
Jimmy applied to 20 different dental schools, Dalhousie among them. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 get anywhere,鈥� says Jimmy, so he decided to go back and take an advanced histology course to 鈥渂uff up my r茅sum茅.鈥�
The Dal years and beyond
While he was doing that, the Dal Faculty of Dentistry admissions office contacted him in March to offer him an interview. So in the summer of 2021, Jimmy and Chandler left for Halifax, where Jimmy began dental school and Chandler trained as a nurse practitioner.
At dental school, Jimmy liked that the hands-on work started early. Doing wax ups and drilling on a block were pleasures amidst the heavy didactic learning. During his four years at Dal, Jimmy did a lot of part-time jobs, including helping with CE classes and other events and monitoring labs. He also enjoyed two internships with Dr. Chris Lee (DDS鈥�04) in the emergency clinic and helped him digitize over 1000 models and dental records.
Working with Dr. Lee in the clinic gave Jimmy the opportunity to try more advanced procedures. One day, in the summer after his first year, Dr. Lee taught Jimmy how to give an anaesthetic. 鈥淗e basically put my hands and the needle in the right spot. And I remember telling him 鈥榊ou remember I鈥檓 a first-year, right?鈥欌��
Jimmy credits Dr. Lee with teaching him a lot. 鈥淗e cared about us as students and treated us as colleagues.鈥�
Even though Jimmy is looking forward to his next adventure in Alaska, leaving Halifax is bittersweet. There鈥檚 a big Utah group in dentistry, and we鈥檝e all had children during our years here and socialized a lot. For Jimmy and Chandler, Hali is a 鈥渓ittle piece of Canada we鈥檒l be taking with us.鈥� He hopes to return for his 10th reunion, to reconnect with classmates and to show Hali where she was born and got her name.