When Devin Christiansen went to Weber State University in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in microbiology, he had no idea that one day he would be the dentist for the Utah Hockey Club. While attending school, he spent his time studying, attending clubs and even tutoring a future NBA player.
Christiansen said he liked being close to home while attending Weber. He was able to commute to class while living in Bountiful.
“Being able to live at home was wonderful,” Christiansen said.
Christiansen also said he liked the small class sizes at Weber. They helped develop a tight-knit community of students, which helped him stand out when applying to dental schools. They also allowed him to develop closer relationships with his professors.
“When I applied to dental school there’s maybe ten or so of us that would have applied,” Christiansen said. “When you look at other universities around the country or even in the state, they have a couple hundred. So it was easy for me to stand out, you know, look good on a resume.”
Another part of Christiansen’s time at Weber was Weber’s pre-dental club. The organization would invite dental schools to come meet and speak to the students. The events involved a presentation, networking and dinner.
Christiansen worked as a microbiology tutor while at Weber, a job that he said he enjoyed and got to know a lot of the student athletes.
“I would set aside time a couple times a week that I would tutor freshman and sophomore year microbiology courses,” Christiansen said. “Being a senior in college, I got to tutor those courses and got to know some of the athletes that way because they wouldn’t go to some of their classes because they were obviously doing basketball or other activities in sports.”
One student athlete that Christiansen tutored was current NBA player Damian Lillard. Lillard graduated from Weber State in 2015 and currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Weber was only the start of Christiansen’s learning journey. Christiansen received his bachelor’s degree from Weber in 2013 and went on to attend the University of Louisville’s dental program in Kentucky. While attending Louisville, Christiansen decided on his specialization in periodontics.
“Periodontal disease kind of just made sense with my background in microbiology and bugs and things causing the bone loss around our teeth, and I loved the surgery aspect,” Christiansen said.
Periodontics is a field of dentistry that focuses on gum and jawbone health. Christiansen’s duties involve treating periodontal disease, sinus lifts, bone grafts and tissue grafts.
After finishing his dental program in Louisville, Christiansen attended his residency program in Lincoln, Nebraska for three years at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Once Christiansen’s schooling was complete, he started his professional career in private dental practice. He later got an opportunity to work for the University of Utah School of Dentistry as the program director for periodontics.
Christiansen spends half of his work week building the university’s new residency program.
“The dental school up here doesn’t have any residency programs,” Christiansen said. “So I’m currently tasked with developing the residency programs and especially for periodontal disease.”
When he’s not developing the new program, Christiansen performs surgeries and provides treatments for periodontal disease and its symptoms.
“I do most of the surgeries here at the university,” Christiansen said. “So if the students that are in dental school have patients who need periodontal disease treatment or you know, implants or whatever else it may be, then we do the surgeries for them.”
Weber State awards thousands of degrees each year to students like Christiansen. In 2024 Weber awarded 6,910 degrees to its graduating students. Christiensen said that new graduates should focus on staying persistent.
“Just never give up; keep working until you achieve your goals,” Christiansen said. “Set realistic goals and go after them, big or small. Just continue to keep your head down and go to work, and it pays off in the long run.”
