Dr. Smith opened Berks Prosthodon- tics after serving for nearly a decade as clinical director and head of the Department of Prosthodontics and Maxillofacial Prosthetics at the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic. Founded in 1938, the LCPC was the world’s first clinic for patients with cleft palate and other orofacial anomalies. The state-of-the-art facility still treats some of its earliest patients, who first visited before World War II.

Dr. Smith began her career at 14 when she was offered a dental-assistant job by her own dentist.

“Getting sufficient insurance coverage for patients who require major oral reconstruction as a result of congenital anomalies or cancer.”

“My Steaman Jr. steamer in the lab is a must. It cleans everything—crowns, dentures, temporaries—fast and easy.”

One with an aggressive form of cancer that first took half of his palate, then recurred. “Then after another recurrence,” Dr. Smith recalls, “the entire left side of his face had to be removed, including his eye and part of his skull. With each recurrence, I made him larger and larger prostheses to replace the missing structures. Through all this, he maintained a positive attitude and seemed mostly concerned with the white- ness of his remaining teeth. Even after cancer had taken away so much, he maintained the same personal pride he always had.”