How often does a student get the opportunity to graduate and then enter into a profession working with the individual he idolized? How often does a student get the opportunity to graduate and then return home to take over the reins of the business from the individual responsible for helping them enter that line of work?

The answer is not often. But, for Dr. Brett Wood, he has that tremendous opportunity and is now working side-by-side with his mentor and long-time family friend, Dr. Bryant Speed.

Last month, Speed announced his plans to retire and to transition the practice he has maintained for more than 40 years in Selma to Wood, a Selma native himself and someone who has a tremendous love for his hometown.

“It’s nice to walk down the street and know just about everyone,” Wood said. “Some look at me and knew my dad. There are no words for how it feels.”

Wood received his undergraduate degree from Auburn, where he first pursued a degree in agriculture, a path many in his family had followed.

“I just didn’t feel it was for me. I really didn’t know what to do,” Wood recalls. “I came home and had a long talk with Dr. Speed and that was the first time he talked to me about dentistry.”

Wood said Speed, who had a long history with the Wood family having served on Morgan Academy’s board with Wood’s grandfather, offered to let Wood shadow him around UAB’s dental school, where Speed was an instructor.

“I spent time with him there and felt right at home. It was amazing,” Wood said.

After four years at UAB and graduating in the top 25 percent of his class, Wood, continued his education through a one-year general practice residency at the V.A. hospital and then pursued a three-year masters degree in orthodontics.

During his orthodontics work, Wood was a student of Speed’s.

“The biggest change I have seen since I first started is the quality of people,” Speed said of his time at UAB. “These men and women today are so much better at handling technology than my generation was.”

As for making a transition to Selma and taking over the practice, Wood said Speed was always careful in how he discussed the idea.

“I don’t think he wanted to put any pressure on me,” Wood said. “I will tell you this. I would have entered into the contract with a handshake with Dr. Speed because of how much I respect him and how good of a man he is.”

Now that Wood and Speed are working together for the next few months, Wood is already looking at expanding the services offered by the practice and expanding the hours.

“We will expand the hours as we expand the number of patients,” Wood said. “It’s important that we begin to offer services that patients now drive to Montgomery for. Our prices are competitive and there are savings to patients and families in staying at home.”

Wood said he projects, based on the number of visits a patient may make to Montgomery for services and follow-ups, that a family can save a minimum of $500 by having those procedures done in Selma.

“We are talking to dentists and telling them we can provide the best services for them, their patients and the community,” Wood said.

Some of the new features that will eventually be added to the practice are esthetic appliances, invisalign and soft tissue lasers among others.