Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Dr. B.J. Thomas-Blair is described as a perfectionist by those closest to her.

Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer

With the flow of returning residents into Mandeville, there is very little about this emerging urban centre that surprises visitors. But, in the state of the art offices of orthodontist 'B.J' Thomas-Blair, one is charmed by the seamless, open plan of the downstairs client service centre and the - not one - but two play centres with video games for children and adults alike.

Dr. Beryl June Thomas-Blair, who is currently studying law, and who in 2005 achieved the highest accreditation in her field - the Diplomate from the American Board of Orthodontics - feels compelled to continue to improve in ways that will consistently add value to her person and office.You would be surprised by the things you hear in the dentists' chair, hence her move to help her clients more.

Husband Dayle Blair is exasperated and yet admiring when he tells Outlook that his wife is a 'perfectionist'.

The couple are also returning residents, having spent nearly a decade abroad achieving the credentials which now enable them to manage two separate business entities.

Dayle Blair is a chartered accountant with offices in Mandeville and New Kingston.

The couple have made the capital of Manchester - a place close to their original homes - their permanent residence and have been rewarded for investing in business there.

When B.J. first began operating in Mandeville, she recalls that she was almost a one-woman operation, doing diagnostics, braces and many other operational and administrative duties herself with the help of only a receptionist/assistant.

Today, her new office employs nine persons with dedicated areas for X-ray, a laboratory and other specialist services.

"Once someone is trained, I don't have to watch them work," Dr. Thomas-Blair comments. She has dedicated her own life to training that ensures she is the best at what she does.

B.J. is the daughter of Lena Thomas and Richard Lambert Thomas of Clarendon. The second to last child among five, she attended Glenmuir High School and then the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, with the aim of becoming a medical doctor.

B.J. started in the faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences where she did chemistry and finally chose to do dentistry instead of medicine.

"I wanted to do orthodontics," she recalls.

Orthodontics is the art and science of moving the teeth and jaws into proper alignment, fixing problems such as 'buff' teeth where teeth no longer meet.

In Clarendon, she grew up seeing only two individuals in braces, but at the university there were others including one friend who frequently boasted about Dr. Otto Beck - the only orthodontist in the island at the time.

It became clear in B.J's mind that orthodontics would be her goal. But, first, she had to become a dentist.

Her next stop after the UWI was Howard University in Washington, D.C. in the United States.

Dr. Thomas-Blair spent four years at Howard University, graduating in 1992 as valedictorian and with a degree in dentistry. Then came a one-year residency at the Veterans Administration Hospital in East Orange, New Jersey.

At dental school, B.J. did all areas well and was tempted to go into general dentistry. She recalls, "I had to stay focused to become an orthodontist."

Those who wish to work in orthodontics are chosen from among the best and brightest - the top 10 per cent in dentist schools.

Specialisation

Even though she worked for the four years of dental school and was married to Dayle Blair ( a student who was completing his masters) by the time of graduation, B.J. was ready to move into her specialisation.

She chose the Ivy League Columbia University in New York with its highly competitive selection process and was accepted - the only black in the class of 11.

B.J. spent three years commuting from New Jersey where the family lived and where husband Dayle worked as an accountant, to school in New York.

During the period, she was pregnant with her first child and recalls the uncomfortable experience of using the barf bag while driving to school on the highway.

"I could not stop. You do what you are doing and go to school."

This continued until her daughter, Janell, was born. She left her after four weeks to go back to school. Thomas-Blair graduated in 1995.

She reflects today, "Yes, I was tempted to stay (in the U.S.) My employer needed an associate. I wanted to work a little and then come back home."

However, Dayle wanted out and she did not work a day as an orthodontist there. The couple came back to Mandeville in Manchester in that same year. Private practice was her first employment option.

Creating history

Dr. B.J. Thomas-Blair returned the same year as another orthodontist, Dr. Anna Law; both orthodontists creating history as the first females in the profession locally. By the time B.J. was back, there were also two orthodontists (Drs. Otto Beck and Jeffrey Meeks) in Kingston, with branch offices in Montego Bay. Mandeville had none.

She chose Mandeville as the place to work.

It took almost a year to have the clinic designed and infrastructure in place, and in November 1996, Mandeville Orthodontics started operations.

In November of this year, Dr. Thomas-Blair celebrated her 10th anniversary of operations. Her office now features state-of-the-art equipment which her husband considers to be another sign of her perfectionist spirit.

For those in need of braces, Dr. Thomas-Blair boasts about the new Damon system which is faster and less painful than conventional bracing methods and works in a different way with old-style wires replaced by super elastic ones which almost completely eliminate pain.

The orthodontist considers her job to be a hobby but also loves gardening. At home, her family now consists of Dayle, 12-year-old daughter Janell and eight-year-old son William, who still believes, she notes, that the orthodontic office is his other home.

In the last decade, she has corrected the perception, she said, that Kingston is the only place for specialists.

Meanwhile, her job, which includes counselling those who have completely changed their looks by fixing their smiles, remains one she says she will never change.

Husband Dayle Blair notes, "she never does just enough to get by. She is never satisfied, either, with doing just the best she can."

This man who admits he frequently hides the methods he uses to achieve the tasks set him by his wife comments, "hers is the best standard on the planet. She does not want to be left behind in anything."