Dr. David Hufham: Business Spotlight
From braces to retainers to cleft palates, Dr. David Hufham’s orthodontic practice has been serving patients in Crestline for the past 10 years.
“He is just a wonderful orthodontist,” said Landon Stivender, mother of patient Walton, 14, “and the whole staff is kind and friendly. It has just been a pleasant experience.”
Hufham knows the importance of the impact of his business on the lives of his patients; his own children attend Cherokee Bend Elementary School, Anna in sixth grade, James in third and Henry in kindergarten. “I only do what I would do for my own children,” he said.
Growing up in Dothan, Hufham has always known what he wanted to do with his life.
“My father was an orthodontist in Dothan for 25 years,” said Hufham. “He always said how much he enjoyed his job; he never hated going to work.”
Hufham graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in English before attending dental school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and two years of orthodontic training at the University of Pennsylvania.
In September of 2001, Hufham opened his own orthodontic practice in the heart of Crestline Village.
“I have been here 10 years, and the good Lord willing, I hope to be here for many, many more years,” said Hufham. “We are a fulltime orthodontic practice. I am here every day of the week. There is not a rotation. You do not see different orthodontists every day; it is just me. I am responsible for the care, and I see every patient that comes through. It is not just an expansion or short term, we are in Mountain Brook for the long run.”
Within his practice, Hufham not only takes care of braces and retainers, though he does his fair share of that, but he also makes sure the whole bite and teeth are working together in harmony. He works with orthodontic surgeons to make sure “the face looks as good as possible and working with teeth and making sure the lips look right and give them a pleasing profile.”
Despite not growing up in Mountain Brook, Hufham has found the area to be the ideal location for his practice.
“My wife, Joanna, grew up here, and when I came I wanted to be a part of the community,” he said. “To me, Mountain Brook is really just a small town within a big city. I get to see all of the kids that I work on every day whether at baseball practice, church, basketball games or just walking through the village going to get lunch.”
Dr. Hufham’s location is easily accessible not only to Mountain Brook Junior High but at least three elementary schools as well.
“I don’t kid myself,” he said. “I know a lot of people see us for convenience and not just my charming demeanor. We try to be convenient where a mom can drop off her kid and go run an errand, and we have them ready when she gets back.”
In addition to personal service, Hufham pushes to be considerate of his patients’ time.
“Everybody’s time is important,” he said. “That is one thing I cannot give back to people is the time that I spend. When we tell somebody it will be 30 minutes we try to make it 30 minutes. We tell them fifteen minutes, we try to have them out the door in 15 minutes, actually we’ll shoot for 14.”
Even though this September marked the 10-year anniversary of Dr. Hufham’s practice in Crestline Village, Hufham knows that it may not be forever. One day he would like to either expand the building or move somewhere else in Crestline Village.
Regardless of the future of his practice, Dr. David Hufham will continue to serve the Mountain Brook community by helping patients one at a time achieve the smile they desire.
“When they are happy, we’re happy.”