By Sarrah Peters
News Editor
Local dentist Gordon R. Isbell III recently won The Academy of General Dentistry’s Distinguished Service Award during the academy’s annual meeting on June 18 through 21 in San Francisco in front of about 1,000 colleagues, family and friends.
The Distinguished Service Award is a rare honor. Only 31 of the Academy of General Dentistry’s 39,000 members have received the honor.
“It was a tremendous honor,” said Isbell.
“I couldn’t be happier to present Dr. Isbell with this award,” said former Academy of General Dentistry President W. Carter Brown. “He serves as an extraordinary mentor to fellow colleagues and is committed to developing the next generation of general dentists. The Academy of General Dentistry is so fortunate to benefit from his expertise and dedication to advancing the profession.”
Dr. Isbell has been an Academy of General Dentistry trustee, a regional director, chair of the Group Benefits Council, a member of the Credentials and Elections Committee, a delegate in the Academy of General Dentistry House of Delegates for 15 years and still serves on the Alabama Academy of General Dentistry board. In 1995, Dr. Isbell received the Academy of General Dentistry Mastership Award. This is considered one of the association’s highest honors. To receive this award, Isbell had to complete more than 1,100 hours of continuing his dental education. He has won numerous additional awards.
Isbell graduated from Auburn University in 1976, and then went on to get his dental degree in 1981 from the University of Alabama School of Dentistry. He has practiced general dentistry in Gadsden since then.
Isbell comes from an old Gadsden family. His father owned Isbell & Hallmark Furniture Company.
“I’m very proud to be from Gadsden,” said Isbell.
As a child his family had friends who were dentists that inspired him to choose the career path as a way to help others.
Dr. Isbell and his wife, Cindy, have five children, all of whom he is proud to brag about.
His daughter, Francis Isbell, wheelchair bound from spinal muscular atrophy, is in law school. She hopes to work for a special needs firm in the future.
His son, Gordon R. Isbell IV, who goes by Ross, recently joined his father’s practice.
In his free time Isbell likes to golf, frequently playing in tournaments, travel and spend time with his family.
