Jon-Brighton Russell always had a love for sciences in the academic setting.
The 2008 Indianola Academy graduate said that by the time he was a student at Mississippi State University, he knew that he wanted to pursue a degree in the medical field.
“I decided during my Junior year to lean more toward dental than medical,” Russell, now the owner of Mississippi Endodontics told The Enterprise-Tocsin.
Jon Brighton is the son of Marietta and the late Harris Russell of Sunflower.
The Ridgeland-based dentist has been going strong since last fall, specializing in Endodontics which is root canal therapy and related procedures.
“I have built my practice from the ground up,” Russell said. “I just want to grow, do good work, and build lasting relationships with my referrals.”
Russell graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in biological sciences, and he applied to get into dental school.
“I didn’t get in my first year, so I had to sit out a year, and actually ended up farming with my dad,” Russell said.
Russell said that a lot of the early lessons he learned about a strong work ethic came from his family farm.
“I learned that if you start something, you need to finish it and always have integrity,” Russell said.
Russell said that his family had been in the catfish farming industry for years. It was something that he had done since childhood, and coming home to farm full-time was certainly an option, but he was still determined to get into dental school.
That determination paid off the second year that he applied.
He would eventually earn his Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He then went on to do a one year Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. From there, Russell decided to pursue a specialty career in endodontics.
It was not something every resident was excited about, he said, so that opened up a lot of opportunities for him to work with patients who needed root canals.
“It kind of worked out good for me, because everybody hated endo,” Russell said. “I got to do a ton (of it). Most of my classmates had other interests in the field of dentistry so I ended up getting lots of exposure and hands on experience with root canal treatments”.
Russell was accepted into a two-year program at the University of Tennessee, where he earned his certificate in Endodontics and Masters of Dental Science.
Russell said that since he has opened his practice in Ridgeland, he has seen a number of patients from the Delta. He hopes the referrals will keep coming, and as he builds his practice, he said that it is not out of the question that one day he might have a brick and mortar office in the region. This way he would be able to treat patients one or two days a week in the Mississippi Delta region.
Russell is married to the former Katherine Flautt, of Greenwood.
She is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and also the University of Mississippi Medical Center, while currently working in physical therapy.
Although Russell attended the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Tennessee, he is still loyal to the Bulldogs of Starkville
“I’m maroon and white,” he joked. “My wife went to Ole Miss. We’re friends until the Egg Bowl.”
When Russell is not at his practice, he enjoys college sports, as well as hunting and fishing.
