Todd was raised on Bainbridge Island. Growing up, he had the opportunity to work with his father, Harmon, in the dental office where he was trained as Harmon's lab technician. After graduating from Whitman College, Todd taught conversational English in Japan, worked for a biotechnology firm studying cancer diagnostics before choosing to pursue a career in dentistry. Prior to dental school, he travelled to Russia to meet his future in-laws and make arrangements for his now wife, Yaroslavna, to return to America. The two were married while Todd studied at the University of Washington, School of Dentistry.
Following graduation, they moved to Boston where Todd completed a one-year general practice residency program through Harvard University. The purpose of this year was to improve his medical knowledge while also improving his skills as a young dental practitioner. In addition to extensive studies of medically-compromised patients, Todd managed the dental treatment of patients ranging from those undergoing bone marrow, lung, heart and kidney transplantation to those too sick to be appropriately treated in an outpatient setting (e.g. AIDS patients, all hospital inpatients etc.). This training also included rotations in emergency medicine, oral surgery, head and neck radiology, anesthesiology, oncology and others.
Yaroslavna and Todd returned following his dental education in Boston to make Bainbridge Island their home once again. Todd joined Harmon's dental practice at the Winslow Green where he has become the second generation dentist treating the Bainbridge community. 2012 marked the 50th yearof care provided since Harmon first set up his dental office on Bainbridge in 1962.
Todd enjoys the personalized nature of the care he provides to patients within his dental practice. He takes the meaning of practice as a challenge that it is never enough to stop learning or contributing within the profession. He looks forward to continue years of care and commitment within the Bainbridge community that is his lifelong home.
On December 20, 2019, we lost my wife Yaroslavna to cancer. She was courageous and graceful throughout her 20-months navigating from diagnosis through treatment, giving it everything she had as long as her body and spirit would allow. Those of you who knew her since joining the dental team in 1997 know she gave it her all. Thank you to all who have offered messages of kindness, grace, prayer, happiness and mostly love. It has helped me, my family and our staff negotiate these new and challenging times.
Following in the family practice tradition of my parents, Harmon and Patricia, Yaroslavna has been the secret to my dental success. My biggest cheerleader, she was always supportive, tireless and whether she was the face of the office at the front desk when I first started to transitioning and contributing behind the scenes to manage the business remotely, she was passionate about you, our clientele, staff and anyone that needed a pick-me-up. Quick with a smile or a reassuring story, you came to know her as a trusted friend, an extension of me, albeit a much better version. We miss her very much but know that shed want us to carry on and keep caring as she did so much for each and every one of us.
The office of Todd H. Adams, DDS is a continuation of the excellent care that Todd's late father Harmon F. Adams began in 1962 when he and his wife Patricia arrived on Bainbridge Island. They opened the first Adams dental office in what was the Village Shopping Center, located behind Coast to Coast Hardware and across from the Sears and Roebuck Catalog Store. The population of Bainbridge at that time was 7-8,000. While technology and certainly the Island have both changed since then, our emphasis on excellent dental care has not wavered.
Harmon was an excellent dental clinician and an equally gifted instructor. He instructed University of Washington Dental Students in Restorative Dentistry for a decade and was the consummate mentor to Todd when he worked for Harmon doing lab work while in High School and since joining the Winslow Green Practice in 1997.
When Harmon first came to Bainbridge, dental decay was rampant in the community. He spent much of his first many years exercising what he had learned as a Captain in the Air Force doing 'quadrant dentistry' of mainly amalgam restorations. Many of these restorations are still in service today and it 's a pleasure to see the generations of patients he so effectively treated and we have maintained over the years.
While Harmon passed away in 2008, his legacy remains; that of attention to detail and maintaining a feeling of community within the dental practice. We think you will find our approach to dentistry both comfortable and enduring, like our history on Bainbridge.
Both Harmon and Todd understood that education and continually improving their skills and knowledge base was and remains the key to success. The Dental Study Club model is unique to dentistry and is extremely rewarding to both dentists and patients alike. The process involves bringing a patient with a specific concern or procedure to share with our colleagues for critique, either on our operating skills or with respect to our treatment planning decisions. Todd has participated in a prosthodontic study club mentored by his dental school advisor Dr. Charles L. Bolender, the esteemed 'Bolender Prosthodontic Seminar '. The focus of this club over its 50 plus year history has shifted from treatment planning complex denture cases to now restoring complex, multi-disciplinary implant cases. Additionally, Todd has completed training to become a Bioclear Certified Dentist, an advanced esthetic technique which offers patients modern composite alternatives to traditional crown and bridge dentistry. Todd also participated in a 'Richard V. Tucker' gold inlay study club where he and his colleagues perfected conservative cast-gold restorations. Harmon mentored a club of his own in Yakima while also participating in a gold foil study club in Seattle.
In addition to working with Harmon for twelve years, Todd feels honored to continue sharing in the collective knowledge of the excellent clinicians and dental specialists he has worked and studied with through study clubs. This affiliation has raised the level of care for every patient within the practice.