Dr. Kim Fury has been involved in dentistry since 1969. After 17 years as a practicing hygienist, Dr. Fury returned to school and earned her Bachelor of Science and Doctorate of Dental Surgery from Case Western Reserve University and the university’s School of Dental Medicine, respectively.
At her graduation from dental school – achieved through commuting from home and continuing in the roles of wife, mother, and aerobics instructor – Dr. Fury received the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Academic Honorary recognition for her high achievements in academics and character.
Continuing education is an enduring focus in Dr. Fury’s professional life. Her studies include aesthetic and restorative anterior/posterior dentistry, TMJ dysfunction, endodontics, periodontal/chemo therapeutics, nutrition, exercise, and non-amalgam restorations.
Dr. Fury is proud of her graduation from studies at the Dawson Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida in anterior esthetics, occlusion, problem solving, and restorative applications; the Pride Institute of practice management in Chicago; and her leadership in studies at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies in esthetics, occlusal, reconstructive, and neuromuscular dentistry.
She is a founding member of North East Ohio Neuromuscular Study Consortium (NEONs), a member and participant in the Academy of Computerized Dentistry of North America (ACDNA); has a certificate of clinical proficiency in diode laser usage through the Academy of Laser Dentistry; and is associated with APEX – a neuromuscular and esthetic dental teaching institute.
Dr. Fury has taken both basic and advanced courses for facial injections and dermal fillers, a requisite for becoming a member of the American Academy of Facial Esthetics.
Dr. Fury believes that her patients like her because she listens intently to their needs and is happy to answer any questions they have about their dental care.
"I actually been in dentistry for 50 years this year. I started out when I was 16 as a dental assistant in Chagrin Falls, which is where our office is and where I grew up from a young age. And I was 16, the guy that I worked for is 26, Roger Rolland in downtown Chagrin. And my junior, senior year of high school, I was in a VO educational school at Chagrin. So I worked for half a day with him Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and I did everything in his office. I was the receptionist, I was an assistant, I just did everything and I just loved dentistry from that point on.
I just love being around people, getting to know them. It's like that and my fitness classes, too. A lot of them have been taking class a long time, and we're friends and we know each other. You have to have an open mind being a dentist and not be afraid to go outside your comfort zone. You work in a small space and they want to stay in that small space, and you just have to be willing to go out there and learn new things, but I love that in both areas. And my husband's the same way, luckily, and it's been very, very rewarding to work with him. People think we're nuts when … Other dentists ask us, "How do you do that?" That's the only way we've ever known each other. We'll be married 39 years in March.
We do a lot of continuing education, we always have. That's how we got into, that's how you grow, like I said. And you're required in dentistry to have 40 hours of continuing education every two years, and we take way more than that because we love it. I've known many dentists in the past that just stayed, they're not ready for retirement and they've told me they're not going to invest in anything more because there's going to be no benefit. Well, yeah there is. There's a benefit to your patients.
You know what? I think just by virtue of just being around us they understand that we're here for them, not for ourselves. They're just like part of our family, really. I mean, they work, we all work really well together, so I enjoy coming here as much as I like going home or going to my fitness classes. It's very rewarding.zz
I just love being around people, getting to know them. It's like that and my fitness classes, too. A lot of them have been taking class a long time, and we're friends and we know each other. You have to have an open mind being a dentist and not be afraid to go outside your comfort zone. You work in a small space and they want to stay in that small space, and you just have to be willing to go out there and learn new things, but I love that in both areas. And my husband's the same way, luckily, and it's been very, very rewarding to work with him. People think we're nuts when … Other dentists ask us, "How do you do that?" That's the only way we've ever known each other. We'll be married 39 years in March.
We do a lot of continuing education, we always have. That's how we got into, that's how you grow, like I said. And you're required in dentistry to have 40 hours of continuing education every two years, and we take way more than that because we love it. I've known many dentists in the past that just stayed, they're not ready for retirement and they've told me they're not going to invest in anything more because there's going to be no benefit. Well, yeah there is. There's a benefit to your patients.
You know what? I think just by virtue of just being around us they understand that we're here for them, not for ourselves. They're just like part of our family, really. I mean, they work, we all work really well together, so I enjoy coming here as much as I like going home or going to my fitness classes. It's very rewarding."
