955 Thirty-Five Years in Dentistry with Geoffrey Spence : Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran

Born in Sudbury Ontario Canada, the 'Nickel Capital of The World', Geoffrey spent some eight years there prior to moving to Ottawa, the nation's capital.  Interestingly Sudbury was where NASA sent the Apollo astronauts to train prior to the initial moon launch as it was the closest surface on the earth which approximated the moon.  It was in Ottawa that Geoffrey discovered the game of golf and though he played hockey like most of his friends did, it was golf which became his passion.  He procured his CPGA card in 1976 and was a member of the Canadian PGA for some five years.  It was while in Florida in the early 80's that he met an aspiring professional for the LPGA tour whom he helped to attain her tour card and caddied for.  An interesting experience, he came to the conclusion that age was becoming a consideration and that it was time to establish a career.  It was the result of a casual game of golf in Toronto (circa 1982) that Geoffrey was introduced to Jim Kerr, the owner of Shaw Laboratories, a full service lab group.  Jim whose daughter went on to swim for the Canadian Olympic Team felt that there was a direct correlation between athletics and sales, and hired Geoff that June.  Geoffrey spent some six years with Shaw in both a sales and sales management capacity until once again golf introduced him to the retail/distribution side of the industry.  In 1988 he teamed up with Denco Canada a full service distributor with branch operations from coast to coast.  Back then they sold alloy, Adaptic self cure composite, film and prophy cups.  As Geoff recalls, it was not until 1990 when Kimberly Bergalis was diagnosed with AIDS that they sold gloves to the profession.  Ms. Bergalis dentist, Dr David Acer purportedly infected her with the HIV virus and overnight the public demanded that the profession don gloves prior to treatment.  Geoff still recalls selling Johnson & Johnson Microtouch gloves for $33.00 a box ($330 a case) and not being able to satisfy the demand.  It was in 1990 that Denco literally imploded and what had been a powerhouse became insolvent.  As Geoff says, they wrote the book which Healthco later read.  He stayed on until the final day at which time he joined forces with Canadian Dental with whom he partnered until September 1992.  It was at that time that he procured his Green Card and came south to Winston Salem North Carolina.  Geoff partnered with Thompson Dental which was a member of what is now the NDC.  They were acquired by Patterson for whom he sold until joining forces with Henry Schein in 2009.  The past couple of years, Geoff has been an independent sales consultant in different areas, including oral cancer and obstructive sleep apnea along with some interests outside of dentistry.