b'PERIO PEOPLEWhatsupDoc?A NOVEL IDEArunning his periodontal practice fourtoo long. She advised him to cut his story The amazing story of periodontist- days a week, and teaching at Columbiain half and find a mentor. cum-novelist Alan Winter University and then NYU dental schools one day a week. The first fruit of hisHe eventually found his mentor: a In many ways, Alan Winter would seemliterary labors was a screenplay for aprofessor of writing at Columbia to be a typicaleven a prototypical science fiction B movie in 1982.HeUniversity. He gave Dr. Winter a list of periodontist. My parents stressed thestarted pitching his script to severalthe greatest 100 books ever written importance of having a profession, Dr.studios, only to discover that a movieand encouraged him to read as many Winter said, but his parents didnt havehad come out based on his idea.I wasas possible. For several years, they to twist his arm. Even as a child I adoredflattered that someone thought my ideawould meet every Monday at 5:00 pm our family dentist, he recalled. He waswas worth stealing, he said. It gave meat the same coffee shop. Each week, a great man, meticulous in his profession,encouragement to continue writing. the professor would teach Dr. Winter a and I wanted to be like him.different trick of the craft until his entire This experience led him to focus onbook was rewritten. The mentor then After receiving his postgraduate degreebooks rather than movies. The idea fordispatched the mentee to find a publisher.in periodontics from Columbia UniversityDr. Winters first book was based on an in 1976, Dr. Winter joined Hirschfeld andexperience early in his career. I hadAfter much searching, he found one: Wasserman, a prominent Manhattanphotos of my three sons in my treatmentMasterMedia. In 1983, eight years after periodontal practice founded in 1902.room, and patients would constantly tellits initial draft was completed, Someone Six years into his career in periodontics,me that they didnt look like brothers,Elses Son was published, and Alan Dr. Winter became a Diplomate of thehe explained. I promised myself that ifWinter was a published author. American Board of Periodontology. I ever had the chance, I would write aThe book received a flattering review from While he loved his profession, he alsostory about this. That chance arose inThe New York Times. Dr. Winter went had a powerful attraction to anotherthe summer of 1985, when the boys wereon tour making over 30 appearances at profession: writing. He had alreadyaway at camp. Dr. Winter used his extrabookstores throughout the Northeast, written several clinical articles andtime for the next two months writing ahelping the book sell around 3,000 founded Periodontal Case Reports. But asstory about what might happen if twocopies. It didnt garner the wide a former college history major nominatedfamilies brought the wrong babies homeaudience we might have hoped for, he for a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship infrom the hospital. He titled the story,said, but in those pre-Amazon, pre-historywhich he turned down for dentalSomeone Elses Son. A patient arrangedsocial media days, it wasnt bad for a first schoolhe longed to write historically- for Dr. Winter to meet with an agent atnovel.based novels. the William Morris talent agency. The agent told him, You may think youreDr. Winters mentor then advised him to And so he began a 40-year journey,a dentist, but youre a writer. She alsowrite a first-person book based on his somehow finding the time to write antold him he had made the mistake mostown experiences. Dr. Winter complied, average of 30 hours a week, whilefirst-time novelists make: his story wascompleting a draft within a few years. AAP Periospectives| 46102378_AAOP.indd46 3/18/212:36 PM'