Forty Under 40: Andy Baber, 32

For Andy Baber, patience has paid off. After deciding in high school he wanted to go into dentistry, it took 11 years of education for Baber to become an oral surgeon.

After graduating from Ouachita Baptist University with a degree in biology, he attended dental school at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. Baber went on to do his oral and maxillofacial surgery training at the Virginia Commonwealth Medical Center.

In 2008, he moved to Rogers and worked for a practice for two years before buying it. Now the owner of Horizon Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Rogers, Baber said he enjoys his daily interaction with patients.

“What’s becoming most important to me is the relationship side of health care in small business,” he said.

“I’m becoming more focused on building and maintaining relationships throughout my practice, not just with my patients but with the dental and medical community and with the staff.”

Baber is committed to giving back to the community, something he attributes to his upbringing with parents who spent several years as missionaries.

He works with the Samaritan House in Rogers, donating his surgical services. Baber has traveled to Honduras several times on dental and surgical mission trips, and last September spent a week on the Amazon River in Brazil working on a riverboat medical and dental clinic.