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Dentist nears first anniversary of purchasing practice

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By Karen Brainard

Dr. Malcolm Boykin D.D.S. can point to several events in his life that led to his career and eventual dental practice in Ramona.

Boykin bought Dr. James Hill’s dental practice at 2005 Main St. on Dec. 23, 2013.

“Ramona’s a great place to practice,” he said.

Boykins’ interest in dentistry began at an early age after a game of basketball, he recalled with humor. Living in Philadelphia as a child, he often visited Temple University School of Dentistry while his mother attended classes at the college.

“I met a dentist there,” he said, “and...we started kind of becoming friends and one day we were playing a kind of Nerf basketball and the basketball hoop broke, and he got out all his dental things and he repaired the basketball hoop. And when I saw, I thought it was so cool, I said, ‘That’s what I want to do when I grow up.’”

Boykin and his family moved to California and he competed in wrestling in high school, earning a state championship, and in college, where he was ranked 13th in the United States during his last two years.

He attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and went on to the University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry.

In 2001 he left San Diego and moved to Germany to practice dentistry with the military. During his 11 years in Heidelberg, he met Claudia, the woman he would marry.

When he wanted to return to San Diego, she wasn’t ready to leave Germany, he said. That changed after a visit to San Diego in the month of February when they were able to spend time outside at area attractions.

When they returned to Germany, Boykin said, “The cold air hits. We take our big jackets out and we get on the autobahn driving home and all of a sudden the sky turns black and the rain starts coming down and we couldn’t even see anything...so I was ready to pull over and she finally said, ‘Honey, I’m ready.’”

“Finally the weather won her over,” said Boykin.

When they moved to the San Diego area, one of the places Boykin worked was Camp Pendleton where he met a patient he had while in Germany.

Boykin met Hill through a dental supplier and actually performed dental work on Hill at his office. While the two got to know each other, Boykin said Hill asked him join the practice, pointing out that he had the experience and knowledge to take care of the practice and his patients.

As Boykin already had a job, Hill suggested he come in certain days. After a while, Boykin said Hill indicated he wanted to retire and asked him to take over the practice.

Boykin said the staff and patients were “super nice people” and very welcoming.

“A lot of them have been coming here a long time and said ‘welcome to the family,’” he said.

Boykin and his wife have one son, Sebastian, who is 8 years old, and a daughter on the way, due in March. The family lives in Carlsbad where many of Boykins’ immediate family members live, but, he said, he wouldn’t mind living in Ramona one day.

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