General Dentist:  Dr. Sehmi Paik Lee, DDS, PhD 

Dr. Lee is a general dentist with unique educational background.  She first received her dental degree from Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea.  As part of her post-graduation education, she completed advanced training in oral pathology and collaborated with oral surgeons for diagnosis and treatment of oral cancers and other soft tissue diseases in addition to jaw bone diseases. As a part of the training, she earned her the Masters degree in oral pathology from Seoul National University.  After moving to Richmond VA, she joined a graduate program in Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the VCU, researching on heart valve infection (infective endocarditis) caused by some of mouth-living bacteria and received her PhD degree.

Dr. Lee, again, received her Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) degree with honors from VCU School of Dentistry.  During her years in Virginia, she worked as an associate dentist in a private practice in Mechanicsville, and in an army dental clinic at Fort Lee, treating patients of all age groups.  In 2013, she became the principal dentist of Apple Tree Dentistry.  Until 2017, she also worked as a mobile dentist in Smile Program, treating children from K to elementary school in many different parts of Virginia, including Richmond,  Harrisonburg, Hampton, Norfolk, Newport News, King George county, King and Queen county, Stafford, Charlotteville, Waynesboro, Petersburg, Emporia, Lancaster and more.  Dr. Lee is currently serving on a review panel for the journal “General Dentistry” published by Academy of General Dentistry and a member of Omicron Kappa Upsilon Honor Dental Society.

Dr. Lee has been recognized by numerous awards as noted below:

  • Department of Radiology award, School of Dentistry, VCU
  • Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) society
  • Hinman Dental Scholar award
  • Merit Scholarship funds award, VCU
  • A.D. Williams student research fellowship award, School of Dentistry, VCU
  • NRSA T32 training grant award for a dentist scholar
  • Travel grant award, Genco symposium: Contemporary Periodontology: Buffalo, NY
  • Corporate student travel grant award, the 103rd General ASM meeting,
  • Student travel grant award, the 1st Mid-Atlantic Microbial Pathogenesis Meeting
  • Student travel grant award, the 6th Streptococcal genetics meeting
  • Graduate research award, First place, ASM VA branch meeting

Dr. Lee’s Publications:

  1. T. Kitten, C.L.Munro, N. Q. Zollar, S. P. Lee, R. D. Patel. Oral streptococcal bacteremia in hospitalized patients: taxonomic identification and clinical characterization. J Clin Microbiol. 2012 Mar;50(3):1039-42. Epub 2011 Dec 21
  2. X. Ge, T. Kitten, Z. Chen, S. P. Lee, C. L. Munro and P. Xu. Identification of Streptococcus sanguinis genes required for biofilm formation and examination of their role in endocarditis virulence, Infect Immun, 2008 Jun;76(6):2551-9.
  3. P. Xu, J.M. Alves, T. Kitten, A. Brown, Z. Chen, L.S. Ozaki, P. Manque, X. Ge, M.G. Serrano, D. Puiu, S. Hendricks, Y. Wang, M.D. Chaplin, D.Akan, S. Paik, D.L. Peterson, F.L. Macrina and G.A. Buck. Genome of the opportunistic pathogen Streptococcus sanguinis, J Bacteriol, 2007 Apr;189(8):3166-3175
  4. S. Paik, L. Senty, S. Das, J.C. Noe, C. L. Munro, and T. Kitten, Identification of Virulence Determinants for Endocarditis in Streptococcus sanguis by Signature-Tagged Mutagenesis, Infect Immun. 2005 Sep;73(9):6064-74.               
  5. S. Das, J.C. Noe, S. Paik, and T. Kitten, An Improved Arbitrary Primer PCR Method for Rapid Characterization of Transposon Insertion Sites, J Microbiol Methods. 2005 Oct;63(1):89-94. Epub 2005 Mar 19.
  6. S. Paik, A. Brown, C. L. Munro, C. N. Cornelissen, and T. Kitten, The sloABCR operon of Streptococcus mutans encodes an Mn and Fe transport system required for endocarditis virulence and its Mn-dependent repressor. J. Bacteriol. 2003 185: 5967-5975

In Recognition of Our Staffs 

We praise every one of our current and past staff members for building Apple Tree Dentistry together into a dental practice we can all be proud of. 

Without Melanie, Jessica, Hanel (Dr. Choi) , Kellie, Kristine, Ashley G, Denisse, Kendall, Leah, Monica (DA), Ashley L, Bonnie, Amanda, Monica (RDH), Shanae & Betty, we would not be where we are today.  From the bottom of our hearts, Thank You!