Chris Baker (center) is surrounded by the staff at Baker Dentistry located along Lay Dam Road in Clanton. (Photo by Anthony Richards/Advertiser)

The Baker family has been in Clanton since 1825, and for much of that time have had a hand in helping provide the answers to the questions that residents have had about their teeth.

Over that time period, it has become a family tradition of sorts that has been carried on for generations.

“The way that the community has allowed us to be apart of their healthcare is one of the more humbling experiences of my life,” said Chris Baker of Baker Dentistry in Clanton. “I feel very blessed by every patient that walks through the door and trusts in me to treat them.”

Baker currently heads the business, but it began when his father Curtis Baker opened a practice in July 1963, and eventually retired 50 years later in 2013.

He followed in his father’s footsteps and began practicing dentistry in 1990 before taking on a leadership role, as his father took some time off due to health-related issues in 2002.

“I’m sure I would not be doing what I do without my dad’s encouragement along the way,” Baker said.

According to Baker, the family history in the field dates back to his great-great grandfather who learned how to pull teeth before all the schooling was required. He is considered the first dentist in the family.

Over the years Baker has grown to understand the negative reactions and thoughts that typically come to the forefront when people are placed in any form of medical setting.

He tends to sympathize with those people and in turn seeks to create as comfortable as an environment that he can.

“I have a lot of apprehension when I get I the dental chair, but that’s just who I am,” Baker said. “I respect that side of it, and it’s not something that you should frown upon a person for.”

Now in his 26th year in the profession, the main thing Baker has realized is that certain things are always changing.

“The general knowledge is the same, but the nuances are constantly changing with every patient,” Baker said. “It doesn’t get dull, which makes it just the job for me.”

The staff at Baker Dentistry is made up of 11 members, many of which have

“They are the best team that I’ve been around, and that’s a credit to who they are,” Baker said. “It’s important to me that it is not an overly proper medical practice. I want them to feel like family.”