CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou native Meagan Bossie is bucking the trend of moving out of The County to work by returning to Caribou a week after receiving her doctorate in dental medicine from Tufts University in Boston.
Dental Hygienist Cheryl Bossie, left, and her daughter, new dentist Dr. Meagan Bossie, are working together at Dr. Smith’s Caribou office. Cheryl claims they are the first “mother-daughter dental team in Aroostook County.” (Courtesy of Dr. Smith’s Office)
Bossie started work as a dentist at Dr. David Smith’s Caribou office just one day after returning home, and said Smith has been a great mentor.
“He says he learns a lot from me, but I always call upon his wisdom if I’m in a bind,” Bossie said. “There are so many materials to work with. You may need a white filling, for example, but there are about 40 different types of white filling materials.”
A wall with a partition separates Bossie from Smith while they’re working, allowing Bossie to hear him interact with patients, which has helped her significantly.
“I can hear him all day and try to absorb as much as I can,” she said.
For Bossie, the decision to move back home was an obvious one.
“It’s not the trend of young professionals,” Bossie said. “Most people who graduate locally disappear and don’t come back. I think it’s important to reverse that momentum in the other direction. This is a great community and it breaks my heart when my friends say they’re not coming back.”
Before receiving her doctorate, Bossie graduated from Caribou High School as salutatorian in 2009, and then received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and neuroscience from the University of Maine at Orono.
Born and raised in Caribou, Bossie was active with music and sports and she had parents who were active in the city, which she says gave her a strong sense of community.
“They say it takes a village to raise a child,” Bossie said, “and I’ve pulled from so many people and teachers. Influence from music teachers means a lot, and also the discipline of doing school sports. I just wanted to give back to the community that gave so much to me.”
In addition to the community connection, Bossie feels people in The County are more amicable than elsewhere.
“Walking around Boston, I could always tell when someone was from Maine,” Bossie said, “and they were usually friendlier. Everyone is so happy here.”
The new dentist’s story takes on an interesting twist with the addition of her mother, dental hygienist Cheryl Bossie, to Dr. Smith’s staff, who joined the team soon after Meagan started.
“She worked here when I was young, and came back when she saw an opening for a dental hygienist,” Bossie said. “She’s been a major support system for me, both as a mother and dental professional.”
Bossie said it has “been really fun” working with her mother.
“The entrance to her room is in my room,” Bossie said, “so we can hear each other talk to our patients all day. She’ll say something about me to another patient and I’ll chime in. I’ve learned so much from her, and she’s drawn my eye to a different aspect of the work than I’m used to.”
Like her daughter, Cheryl graduated from the University of Maine and returned home to work for Dr. David Smith in Caribou and Dr. Garth Duff in Presque Isle. Cheryl later joined Dr. Duff and Dr. Norma Desjardins at Academy General Dentistry as a full-time employee in 1997.
“I feel the same excitement going to work every day as I did when I started my career 37 years ago,” Cheryl said, “being able to work side by side with Meagan as the first mother-daughter dental team in Aroostook County.”
Meagan said she’s learned that dental work encompasses much more than “fixing teeth,” and that poor dental health can lead to other issues in the body, such as heart disease and diabetes.
“Dental pain is one of the worst kinds of pain,” Bossie said. “People don’t do well with it, so it’s rewarding to help them.”
Now that she’s back home, Bossie has no intentions of moving away.
“I think this community is starting uphill again,” Bossie said. “I’m glad I was in Boston during my early 20s for four years. I had fun, it was the prime time for me to be there, but I was ready to come home, settle down, and think about starting to raise a family, and this is the only place in the world I’d want to do that.”
