Class of 1968
Ronald S. Mito,
DDS, FDS RCSEd was born in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the age of
six months the family moved to Watsonville to be near his mother, Mary's
family. His father, Frank,
owned and operated Frank's Chevron Service on Main Street,
adjacent to City Hall.
Ron attended T.S. Mac Quiddy, E.A. Hall and Watsonville High School. From the age of 8, Ron was determined to
become a dentist, following in the footsteps of his mentor, Dr. Clifford
Fujimoto. During those years, he learned and played classical trumpet and at the
age of 14 was invited to join the Watsonville Band as its youngest member. In
high school Ron served as Junior Class Vice President and Senior Class
President. He also served as the
first President of the newly created Rotary Interact
Club.
Ron attended UC Davis, earning a BS with honors in Biological Sciences in
less than four years. He continued
his education at the UCLA School of Dentistry. Following dental school, Ron completed a
residency in Family Practice and Hospital Dentistry at the UCLA Medical
Center. All his life he planned on
returning to Watsonville to practice dentistry with Dr. Fujimoto, but his mentor
helped to see he needed to stay where is could use his skills to help the
most - a large city.
Ron, with a partner, created the first office based dental practice for
persons with severe dental fear and anxiety in Southern California. Their practice included a physician and
dentist anesthesiologists to provide sedation or general anesthesia, while they
provided the complicated, full mouth dental reconstructions. Their vision was
shared at national dental meetings and attracted much media attention, with
interviews on most of the major television news networks, radio talk shows and
ultimately a segment on CNN Medical Update.
While running his dental practice, Ron maintained a part-time teaching
position at the UCLA Dental School. In 1984 he returned to a full time teaching
position. He soon became the
Director of the General Practice Residency, then Chair of the Section of
Hospital Dentistry. Later he became the Director of Postgraduate Certificate and
Residency Programs and ultimately an Associate Dean. As the Associate Dean for Clinical
Dental Sciences, Ron oversees a clinical enterprise that provides 150,000
patient visits per year, has 352 dental students, 100 dental residents, 300
Faculty and 150 staff. In addition, he is currently the President of the UCLA
Dental Alumni Association and was honored as Alumnus of the Year in
2002.
Ron has an active personal life as well. He and his wife, Millicent, have two daughters, Marisa, 11 and Lilyann, 6.
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