Lasting Impressions | Fall 2015

32 © NSU LASTING IMPRESSIONS the Northwest Georgia area for help in completing pre- school dental exams. “My staff and I take instruments and equipment to the centers and set up makeshift screening areas where parents allow us to perform an initial screening so their child can start preschool on time and in good dental health. We do this at no charge to the school, nor the parents,” Case said. “Many times, the visit to us is the child’s first exposure to a dentist.” While they don’t perform on-site dental work, they do arrange for children to see specialists if they are found to need a higher level of care. “We’ve been going to the centers for nine years, and are honored to give back to our community,” he said. Giving back has its own rewards. “There are two big things that make you feel alive. One is growing your self-potential and the other is helping others get to a better place,” Case said. “Over the last five years or so, as I look back on my early years, I have become more aware of the need for health care pro- fessionals to also have a mechanism to improve the care of their personal finances. I have come to appreciate that philanthropy doesn’t operate in a vacuum,” Case said. “Giving back to others implies you’ve com- pleted the rigorous financial homework to take care of yourself, your family, and your long-term goals and dreams,” said the NSU alumnus who has been married for 20 years (his wife, Karla, is also an NSU graduate, with a master’s degree in elementary education), and has three daughters (Marga- ret, 16; Anna, 14; and Paige, 11). Case is talking with fellow dentists and physicians about ways to build financial stability. “Due to the neces- sity of time constraints, we aren’t exposed to many strat- egies of personal finance in our medical education. But with the changing face of health care, pressures on our bottom line are coming from many angles. The best way I can sustain individual philanthropy is to be attentive to financial planning,” he said. Within the year, he hopes to be launching an online resource focusing on private financial planning needs for medical professionals. “The heart of every provider is there (in giving back), but more is required. The understanding and application of proven financial principles is paramount to unlocking your full giving potential,” Case added. The alumnus, who was honored with NSU’s presti- gious Alumni of Distinction Award for 2015, has not forgotten where his dental career began. He is a member- at-large on the college’s Alumni Society Advisory Board. “I think it’s important that we grow our alumni network by providing value to members,’’ Case said. “My involve- ment with the board itself stems from my awareness and appreciation of the dental school. I love to encourage alumni to come back and see for themselves the new and great things the school is doing.” He cites advancements in care, expansion of outreach, and the CDM being on the forefront of research. “Like all of medicine, dentistry has seen a profusion of scien- tific changes ranging from nano-science to molecular biology to synthetic bone materials. There are changes in diagnosis and more minimally invasive and conserva- tive forms of treatment. Dentistry is at the forefront of that evolutionary continuum,” Case said. Case attended last February’s alumni weekend and was happy to see fellow alumni tour the school’s “Give Kids A Smile” weekend in which student dentists offered free dental care to underprivileged children. “There was so much energy and excitement among the dental stu- dents and patients! I was inspired,” he said. u Alumni Impressions In addition to his successful practice, Timothy Case is a member-at-large on the College of Dental Medicine’s Alumni Society Advisory Board.