By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
She is a pro – but she can’t shoot. Can’t jump over the Florence phone book – remember those things? And she admits she has a hard time making lay-up.
But Julie Mills is a professional, nevertheless.
This year marks year number 32 working in dentistry.
“I always wanted this profession,” the Florence resident admitted to the Northern Kentucky Tribune. “Even way back in high school.”
It wasn’t easy. She enrolled at Northern Kentucky University – for a year.
“I just didn’t like it,” said Mills who was raised in Bridgetown. “I didn’t go to class and eventually left.”
Sometimes it’s not mother who knows best – it’s grandmom.
“I came home crying,” she said. “What will I do?”
Grandma had the answer. She circled a dental assistant’s job she noticed in the (gulp) newspaper. “Will train,” the ad read.
That was back in 1993 – and Julie Mills enrolled at the University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash, aiming for that Dental Hygiene Degree.
“It was rough going,” she said, “but worth it.”
How rough?
“Well, there were 40 of us in the program and only 11 graduated.”
Her first real job – a hygiene dental job — was with Valley Dental Group in Reading, Ohio. She got her State Board License in 2004 and in 2009 got smart – moved to the Commonwealth.
She’s been with Smith & Elliott, Main Street in Florence, since the summer of 2024 – this after stops like a minor league baseball player at the now defunct Dentistry Plus in Burlington and a stint in Independence.
Looking into the mouths of people – daily – could get old.
“Not really,” Mills was quick to say. “But the toughest part is telling people they might be doing something wrong.”
Like flossing the wrong way – not using the two middle fingers and entering the teeth at an angle.
“I just don’t want to clean teeth,” she says, “I want our patients to have a solution. I like it when I see people change their habits.”
And she says the most rewarding part of her job is when a patient returns and exclaims, “Look, look what I’ve been doing.”
Looking back on her long career, Julie Mills remembers that very first patient – when she toiled as an assistant.
“It was a single mom. We had to remove all her teeth. And she was a heavy smoker. I’d say in her 30s. The smell was unreal.”
Her choice of patients – easy – men.
“I find the men to be easier, much easier,” she said. “Women are, well, just pickier. Men don’t seem to care as much. Women, I feel, require extra energy. They really, at times, want to be wowed.”
There’s really no need to argue with Julie Mills – if you’re in her examining chair, well, you’ll be speechless.
With your mouth wide open.