Dr. Terry Dischinger

Portrait of a Professional
Terry Dischinger, DDS
Lake Oswego, Oregon
By Bruce P. Hawley, DDS, MSD, PCSO
Bulletin Northern Region Editor
N
ot many orthodontists have
played in the big leagues. In
this issue we talk with Terry
Dischinger, who has had a long
career not only in orthodontics,
but also in pro basketball. Read
on to learn how the rules of the game and the people
you meet can help both personally and professionally.
BH: terry, tell me something about your
childhood.
TD: I was born in Anderson, Indiana. I spent one
year there and moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where
I lived through my high school years. My dad was a
teacher and coach; my mom was a stay-at-home mom
while I was growing up, and became a P.E. teacher
later on. I have two younger sisters.
I cherished my childhood in Terre Haute. Much of my
growing up was tied to athletics. We don’t have any
other dentists in our family, but had a close friend of
the family in Terre Haute who was a dentist. He really
didn’t influence me in going into dentistry.
BH: how did you choose dentistry and
orthodontics?
TD: I spent two years in the army in Hawaii and I was
playing basketball and teaching at the Chemical, Biological and Radiological Warfare School in Hawaii.
I played in the wonderful Armed Forces League, composed of teams from all the different services.
One of the members of our Army team was a
dentist, John Fridley, who was living at Schofield
Barracks, where I was stationed. At the time,
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2011 • PCSO Bulletin
The Dischingers at the Hall of Fame induction
of the 1960 Olympic Basketball team.
I had played three years of pro basketball and
then spent two years in the army, and he asked
me what I planned to do when I completed my
basketball career. I told him I had a chemical engineering degree, but I was not sure if I wanted to
go into that field once I finished with basketball,
and he asked if I had considered going to dental
school. I told him I had, prior to going to college,
and he said there was a dental school program at
the University of Tennessee where you could go
part-time in the off-season. He suggested I investigate that.
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Portrait of a Professional
I did, and that is where I received my dental education, going three years during the off-season when
I was playing basketball. When I retired from basketball, I continued for a year and a half to complete my
dental education.
I attended Oregon Health and Science University for
my orthodontic residency. The head of the department at that time was Dr. Doug Buck. We were taught
standard edgewise, class II correction with headgear,
and most other treatments of jaw deformities were
surgical cases, but we did not
complete any surgical cases
during our residency program.
I did unpublished research on
cements to find what current
cement gave the best retention
of bands.
That year, I was chosen to play in the All-Star game
in Los Angeles, and that game was on a Thursday
night. I left West Lafayette, Indiana, on Thursday
morning, flew to L.A., was picked up in a limousine, driven to the Los Angeles Sports Arena,
played in the All-Star game, went back to the airport and flew the red-eye back so that I could attend
class at Purdue the next day. This was because it
was the last week of classes prior to graduation; my
teammates the first half of the year called me “the
weekend warrior.”
BH: tell us a little
bit about your professional basketball
career.
TD: In my first year of professional basketball, I was the only
part-time player ever to play in
the NBA.
I took chemical engineering in
college and carried a full load
all the way through; however,
I needed more credits to get
my degree after four years and
could not get those credits in
summer school. Consequently,
I had to go during the semester
year.
Terry in front of his “Basketball Wall,” and to the
right, his Olympic Uniform and Gold Medal
The first half of my first professional basketball career (1962-1963), I played on weekends and holidays
so that I could attend classes at Purdue and get my
chemical engineering degree. I ended up playing 62
out of 82 games that year. After that year, they made
a rule that nobody could be a part-time player
because they were afraid that some of the veteran
players might want to play just home games, or else
dictate when and where they would play. At the end
of a year of being a part-time player, I was named
Rookie of the Year by a vote of players in the league.
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I also have another record. I am the only coach
in the NBA never to win a game; however, I only
coached two games. I was the interim coach during
the season when a coach was fired and another hired.
I don’t think that the win/loss record had anything to
do with my being the coach!
During my previous college career, between my
sophomore and junior season, I was a member of the
1960 U.S. Olympic basketball team. It was claimed
to be the greatest such team ever (prior to Michael
Jordan’s “Dream Team”), with such players as Oscar
Robertson, Jerry West and Jerry Lucas on the team.
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Portrait of a Professional
I was the youngest player ever on the
Olympic team and it was an athletic
experience unlike any other. The team
won the gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. This Olympic team was
inducted into the Hall of Fame as a
team, along with Michael Jordan’s
Dream Team. We were just inducted
this past summer, and what a thrill it
was to be reunited with that wonderful
group, who were not just great basketball players but great individuals.
BH: did your sports career
Two boys on Terry’s right are the sons of his late son, Terry.
Left to right: daughter Kelly, Alex, David, Terry, Mary, Bill’s
father-in-law, Larry Hayes, Bill’s son, Taylor and Bill.
influence or impact your
orthodontic career?
TD: I think that when I first opened my practice,
the fact that I was an athlete could have helped
initial growth, but one of the greatest things that
has occurred for me in orthodontics is that many
parents tell me that they tell their children, “Dr.
Dischinger was a great athlete, but he was also a
great student and studied so that he could become
an orthodontist.”
I actually went to dental school three years in
the summer, while I was still playing basketball.
Once I retired, I completed my dental training at
the University of Tennessee, and my last year of
basketball was played in Portland, Oregon. My
family and I decided that is where we wanted to
live. We moved to Portland and I did a VA
hospital residency for a year, which was great
training prior to my orthodontic residency at
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)
in Portland. My basketball career paid for
my orthodontic training, because I deferred
monies from my contract so that I was covered
while I was completing my schooling. I took a
lump sum payment of my pension to allow me
to build my orthodontic office.
I feel that in order to be an elite level basketball player, you have to have a passion for
what you do and give 100% in every game. I
have carried that over to my orthodontic career. I am a very fortunate man in the fact that
I have had two careers that I love dearly. Not
very many people have that opportunity.
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2011 • PCSO Bulletin
BH: how did you choose your practice
location?
TD: My last year of professional basketball was
played in Portland, and my family and I had decided
that we wanted to live there. My practice is in Lake
Oswego, Oregon, a Portland suburb.
BH: how did you meet your spouse?
TD: Mary and I met as freshmen at Purdue University. We were introduced, but then we were together
in freshman calculus. We were married a day before
graduation in our senior year at Purdue. We’ve been
married for 48 years.
Terry served in the Army from 1965-1969, and
was a captain when he was finished.
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Portrait of a Professional
attained the rank of Captain when I finished my
active military career. As you probably surmised,
being in the military—the experience and the
people I encountered—changed my life.
BH: have you developed special
clinical protocols?
Drs. Bill and Terry Dischinger have
patented their invention, the AdvanSync,
manufactured by Ormco.
TD: I believe I have developed special clinical
protocols for dentofacial orthopedics. For 29
years, I have had an interest in dentofacial orthopedics with fixed functional appliances, as well
as mixed dentition treatment. Specifically, I have
developed clinical protocols for use of the Herbst
appliance, and also non-extraction treatment in
the mixed dentition.
BH: i understand that you do
We have three children. Kelly is 47 years old
and was a junior high biology teacher prior
to becoming a mom. Her husband, Jack, is a
physician. Kelly has two children, Michael,
16, a sophomore in high school, and Sarah, 13
and in 8th grade. I had a son, Terry, who was
46 when he died in July from complications
from pancreatic cancer and a liver transplant.
He was a missionary, spending seven years
in Ukraine, and when he died he was a global
director of TEAM Missions, the Evangelical Alliance Mission in charge of Europe and
Japan. His wife, Emily, is a school aide and
has just about completed her credits for her
teaching license. They have three children,
Alex, 15, David, 13, and Anna, 11.
TD: Yes, this course goes through all phases of
my dentofacial orthopedic treatment. We have
given this course in-house for over 20 years, and
I have had the great joy of having many orthodontists from the U.S. and overseas attend that
course in the office. I have had the great pleasure of having many orthodontists tell me that I
changed their practice life, once they learned to
be able to correct class II malocclusions without
regard to patient cooperation.
My youngest son, Bill, 38, allows me to practice
with him now. This has been the greatest experience of my life, as he received his dental training
at OHSU and his orthodontic training at Tufts.
His wife, Kari Lynn, is a neonatal nurse, but is
now a stay-at-home mom with four boys: Taylor,
10, Turner, 8 and twins Trey and Tristan, 4½.
BH: do you have any outside hobbies?
TD: My hobby is golf. I have been a single-digit
handicap golfer for quite a while, and my greatest sports accomplishment was not the Olympics.
Rather, it was winning my country club golf
championship! I had finished in second place
five times and could not make that one putt at
the buzzer; finally, I was able to do that, keeping
my nerves in check in the process. It was a great
thrill to win this championship.
BH: were you involved in the u.s.
BH: what professional activities have
TD: As already mentioned, during my college
experience, I was in ROTC and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. I served two years
in Hawaii during the Viet Nam era, and had
TD: I am a member of the American Dental Association and the Oregon Dental Association and
have been involved with the Nationwide Study
Club of Orthodontists, which is headed by Dr.
military?
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an in-house hands-on course in
orthodontics.
you been involved with?
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Portrait of a Professional
Tom Pitts. I have had the opportunity to lecture
worldwide, which has been a great experience
for me. I am a full professor at the University of
the Pacific, where I have taught for eight years.
Recently I was overseas for four weeks, which
I love because the orthodontists there are so
excited about what you have to say.
I have attended most of the PSCO Annual
Meetings until just recently, and have had the
opportunity to speak on a number of occasions
at the PCSO Annual Sessions, and also the
Regional Meetings. An article on my cases was
published in the November 2006 issue of the
American Journal of Orthodontics, and a number
of residents have done research papers utilizing
my dentofacial orthopedic cases.
Photo taken at the marriage of Terry and Mary’s
son, Bill. In the middle is son Terry, who passed
away in July 2010.
BH: have you been involved in any
civic or volunteer work?
TD: I have been very involved with Youth Sports.
My latest endeavor, through our church, has been
Upward Basketball—this year we have over 400
young people playing in this wonderful program.
BH: in your early practice years,
were there any mentors that helped
you get going?
TD: Drs. Ron Roth, Robert Ricketts, James
MacNamara, Tom Pitts and Dwight Damon.
BH: do you have any advice for new
pcso members?
TD: Develop a network of orthodontists that you
can grow with and learn from. I think a nationwide study club is the best means of doing this;
however, being involved with orthodontists in
your area is probably more financially reasonable at this point in time.
It is an amazing honor to be invited to be a
subject of the PCSO Bulletin’s “Portrait of a
Professional.” I am very humbled.
S
Side trip during trip to Thailand to speak
to an Australian study club.
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