About Jurina Smida, DDS

Dr. Jurina Smida has received a degree in dentistry as well as completing a considerable amount of continuing education. In her Petaluma dental office, she combines the latest technologies with a proven holistic approach to health and wellness. Dr. Smida attended medical school in Slovakia, which was, at the time, Czechoslovakia under a Communist regime. Her initial desire was to be a surgeon. The societal norm for women in that country was, however, to pursue dentistry or pediatric medicine. Seeing the opportunity to become an oral surgeon, she chose to study dentistry. She graduated from the Komensky School of Dentistry with her Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry degree (DMD) in 1975. A hallmark of Dr. Smida's career, and her life, has been the continual dedication to optimal performance in whatever she does. Frustration at the limitations imposed within a communist-ruled country, she and her husband made the life-changing decision to leave all that they knew and loved behind in order to achieve a better quality of life. During a 1985 vacation to Yugoslavia, they sought and received political asylum. Reaching America, Dr. Smida, her husband and their two sons settled in San Francisco. Here, she re-entered dental school, as she could not practice with a foreign degree. Her second degree was received from the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco and her first private practice was opened in 1992. Six years later she opened a general family practice in Petaluma. Dr. Smida has an intense interest in learning. Her continual involvement in holistic dental and medical courses as well as her associations with numerous biologic societies complements her passion for people. In addition to training in Occlusion-based Diagnosis, Dr. Smida has studied Restorative and Esthetic Dentistry and received a degree in Integrative and Biological Medicine.