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I remember going to the dentist as a child. I remember having some treatment done and I thought, "This is pretty cool." And then I went through orthodontics too around the sixth, seventh grade and I thought, "That's really cool," because it's all mechanical stuff. I'm into mechanical stuff. I like fidgeting with stuff, fixing things.
And we had a family dentist there who, when I'd go for visits there, I thought that was pretty cool to see him in his office and working. And it even got to a point where I'd asked him, I'd say, "Can I come in and watch?" And he'd let me come in during some summertimes when I was out of school, and I even assisted him when I finally got into dental school, or even as an undergrad during the summer just to help me get more experience with that kind of thing.
I do like working with my hands. As young as, probably, I think sixth grade, my dad was a friend with this guy and he did lapidary work. I don't know if you know what that is, it's where you polish stones. It's not like a tumbler. A tumbler's where you can put stones in and with the grit and tumble them and you just let it sit, and it rounds them and polishes them.
Well, this is different. This is taking a wheel and you're just, you're shaping the stones and you're trying to get them shaped perfectly and I think that's something that helped me with my dentistry ability to do that, because you're dealing with real fine things. You're dealing with small things, millimeters, fractions of millimeters, just to make something look just right. And that's just stuff I like to do, and that's what dentistry is. Even the mouth, you're working in there, you're working in small spaces, and just, that's pretty much what it is.
Dr. James Jelinek is a general dentist who offers a broad array of services, thanks to his completion of advanced training in areas including dental implants. He was inspired to become a dentist by two things: his love of working with his hands and his own experiences with his family dentist. When he was younger, he enjoyed taking things like small engines apart and then reassembling them. He also developed an attention to detail when making jewelry and doing lapidary work.
After graduating from Ohio University in 1979 with a degree in Zoology, he received his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from The Ohio State University College of Dentistry in 1983. He then completed a general practice residency in the U.S. Army and later went on to do an implant externship at Bowman Gray Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC. Like Dr. Susan Yung, he has a certificate in Straight Wire Orthodontic Studies and is a member of the Academy of General Dentistry.
Thanks to the wide-ranging experiences and training of Drs. Jelinek and Yung, their dental practice offers many services beyond general dentistry, including:
- Cosmetic Dentistry
- Restorative Dentistry
- Oral Surgery
- Dental Implants
No matter what kind of treatment is being offered, Dr. Jelinek treats patients the way he wants to be treated himself. A big part of that is respecting patients’ desires and never forcing treatment on them. Instead, he presents patients with their treatment options and lets them decide what to do.
Away from work, Dr. Jelinek enjoys spending time with his family, reading, and exercising, including swimming, windsurfing, and walking. He is also an instrument-rated private pilot and an amateur beekeeper. He also recently received an amateur radio license, KO4MKH.