Alum Periodontist is Political Leader in Bahamas

Kendal Major in his parliamentary robe and wig.

Kendal Major’s life is filled with history-making milestones. In 1989, he became the first periodontist in his homeland, the Bahamas, and one of only 54 black periodontists in the U.S. after graduating from RSDM’s residency program.

In 2012, he was elected to the Bahamian Parliament, where he became the third youngest Speaker of the Assembly in the governing body’s 285-year history. But invariably, Americans who meet him for the first time want to know about his magistrate’s wig — the 18th -century-era hairpiece he must wear on ceremonial occasions of state.

Major is used to such questions.

“It’s made of horse hair,’’ he answers patiently.

Is it uncomfortable?

“Yes,’’ he confirms. “It’s hot and itchy.’’

The son of a Bahamian Telex operator and cashier, Major’s childhood career goals had nothing to do with dentistry or politics. He wanted to be a veterinarian.

Kendal Major without his wig and robe.

“Then I decided I only loved dogs and cats but I didn’t love larger animals,’’ he explains. “So it became obvious to me I had to find something else.’’

That something else was dentistry. “I really loved the sciences, and knew I had good hand-eye coordination. I seemed like a good fit for me: My love of science, my love of people and my good hands.’’

He was determined to get a U.S. education and at age 16, Major was accepted to Tuskegee University in Alabama. By 19 he earned his BA in science, becoming one of the university’s youngest graduates.

He attended dental school at Howard University College of Dentistry and later decided to specialize in perio, then an emerging field. “It’s almost like being a plastic surgeon of the mouth and I loved surgery,’’ he says.

Major was accepted into RSDM’s perio program in 1987 at a time when there were only about 2,000 periodontists worldwide. “It was one of the happiest days of my life,’’ he remembers. He is grateful for the education he received at RSDM. “It was absolutely phenomenal,’’ he declares. “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. If I could say two things I really learned during those two years was excellence and professionalism. It shaped my world view of what I should be as a specialist.’’

After RSDM, he returned to the Bahamas to open a practice.“I wanted to come back and help my people, to uplift the community and the society from which I came.’’

Major’s ultimate goal is to become prime minister of his country, an ambition inspired by a conversation with former prime minister Lynden Pindling, once known as the “father of the nation” for leading Bahamians to independence from Great Britain in 1973.

Major met Pindling as a teen, when the prime minister encouraged him to seek a government scholarship to study veterinary science, which became the start of Major’s medical career. Twenty years later, he was a patient in Major’s perio practice.

“I told him I became the first Bahamian periodontist, thanks to you,’’’ Major recalls. “He said, ‘we need men like you to take this country to the next level.’ It inspired me to seek public office. I want to change the life of many of my people and get them on the right path economically, socially and educationally. Each of us has a duty to find our gift and promote it to the world for the betterment of mankind. I was inspired to believe that I could help make the world a better place.’’