Dr. Amanda Gallagher Whetzel helps people of all ages to show off their best smile. As the owner of Amanda Gallagher Orthodontics, with four locations in Maryland and a fifth coming soon, she manages orthodontic staff across each of them, in addition to the orthodontic work she does herself.

When she’s not installing braces or recommending retainers, Gallagher, 42, likes to spend time with her family: her husband, Ben, with whom she runs Amanda Gallagher Orthodontics, and their three sons, ages 9, 7 and 5. The family lives in Kingsville.

What made you want to become an orthodontist?
I actually never really intended to go into dentistry. My initial interest was actually in medicine. I was a big athlete growing up, and so I thought maybe I wanted to go into orthopedic surgery. And in college, I played Division I field hockey at James Madison University and I studied pre-med. And as I was going along with learning about health administration, I was learning about managed care and I was doing internships. But I realized that it wasn’t really the lifestyle that I wanted, to always be on call and to have to work that surgery lifestyle. So, I started kind of looking into dentistry because I knew it was going to be more of a 9-to-5 type of job. I knew I wanted to have a family, and dentistry seemed to align with those goals. I could still be a mother. I could be an independent business owner. And I just wanted to have control over my life in that way.

And, so that’s how I started exploring dentistry. And then, when I was in dental school, I knew to get into orthodontics, you had to be the very top of your class. And I always was a really hard worker, but I didn’t want to put all that pressure on myself. It was like, ‘No matter what, I will be a dentist, and I’ll have a practice.’ But I performed well in dental school, and I had the opportunity to apply to orthodontics, and then this is where I am now.

You work with a lot of kids and teens. Is there anything you’ve learned working with them that you apply to your parenting?
I think that it’s actually the other way around. I say that being a parent has opened my eyes and changed the way that I treat children in the practice. When I trained, it was very textbook-based, like if you see teeth coming in crowded or things are blocked out, send the patient to have teeth removed and then monitor eruption. Once I had children, everything became about, ‘Would I do that to my child? Would I put them through that if I knew that there may be another way to go about it?’ So, being a parent has changed the way that I practice. I talk with my patients about that all the time. Whenever parents are in a consultation with their children, I’m always putting myself in their shoes. I think, ‘If this was my child, this is exactly what I would do.’

What do you enjoy most about being a parent?
There’s so many things, but I love to see [my kids’] personalities. They’re all coming from the same place, under the same family, learning their personalities and figuring out how to harness each of their potentials. As they’re getting a little bit older, they have different unique interests, and it’s just about figuring out who they are going to become and trying to foster that. I think that’s probably the thing that I enjoyed the most about being a parent—trying to figure out these little humans and where they’re gonna go, and how I can just be a part of that.

When it comes to parenting or orthodontics, what advice do you have for other parents?
For parenting, remember that you only have 100% of yourself to give and you just really need to find out how that best is divided amongst the things that are very important to you and still not let yourself go. I mean, make sure you have time for yourself. I think [what’s] incredibly important is that no matter how successful you may think that people look, they still have these problems. People contact me all the time and ask, ‘How are you doing all this?’ but social media isn’t real life, and every single one of us struggles.

When it comes to dentistry, it’s important to have your child evaluated by a pediatric dentist at the age of 1. Most people wait until 2 or 3, when all their baby teeth are in, but that can be too late sometimes. It’s more about exposure and getting the child comfortable with these visits. I think the earlier you can have that exposure to a dental professional, the more comfortable the child becomes over time regarding orthodontics, braces and all of that.

Family Favorites
Food: Salmon
Dessert: I don’t really do desserts, but we make homemade ice cream.
Vacation Spot: Avalon, New Jersey
Local Spot: Angel Park
Home Activity: Uno and doing crafts. We love arts and crafts here.