MEET THE DOCTOR

Biography

Dr. Loredo was born in California in the San Francisco Bay area to Mexican parents. At the age of three, his parents relocated the family to a town in northern Mexico to be able to afford to send their children to a private Christian school. In 1972, at the age of thirteen, he returned to the United States with his two older brothers and his father to work for the summer in the fields. The goal was to earn enough funds to help his parents pay the upcoming school bill. At the end of the summer, his father sat the three boys down and told them that he wanted them to stay and attend school in the United States. His father felt that it was a shame that his three boys, having been born in California, did not know how to speak English. He believed that by learning to speak English and getting an education in the U.S., their education would be more useful. Soon his mother and three sisters joined them and for the next three years the family lived in Fairfield, California. In 1975, after a long summer of working in the fields, his father and mother decided to return to Mexico. He wanted his children to stay and continue their education in the United States. In September of 1975, his father dropped Dr. Loredo and one of his older brothers off at Monterey Bay Academy, a boarding school in Watsonville, California. He pulled out his wallet and gave each boy a one hundred dollar bill. He told them that he had been assured that the school had places where they could work and that he expected them to work and pay off their school bill. This was to be the last one hundred dollars he would ever receive from his father! He then gave each a big hug and told them he would see them the following summer. As hard as it was, Dr. Loredo and his brother rose up to the challenge, paid off their school bill and maintained a high grade point average. In 1977, Dr. Loredo graduated from Monterey Bay Academy with high honors and received a full California State Scholarship to attend La Sierra College in Riverside, California.

 In college, Dr. Loredo majored in agriculture, but also took all the needed science classes to prepare him to attend medical school like his brothers and sister. During his sophomore year in college, he became interested in dentistry when he accidentally stumbled into the dental school alumni banquet that was being held at their campus cafeteria. He says that he became very impressed by their professionalism. He worked hard the next few months getting his classes in line to prepare him to apply for dental school. He was accepted to Loma Linda University School of Dentistry, Christmas of 1979, at the end of his first semester of his junior year in college. Time did not allow him to complete his agriculture degree before starting dental school in January of 1981.

 Dr. Loredo was awarded a full National Public Health Scholarship to attend all four years of dental school at Loma Linda University. He graduated from dental school and passed the California Dental Board exam in June of 1984 and a week later married his best friend, Bonnie Cyson. That same summer of 1984, his two older brothers, his oldest sister and sister-in-law, all graduated from Loma Linda University School of Medicine. His parents were very proud of their children’s achievements.

 Soon after his graduation and wedding, he and his wife moved to Salem, Oregon. Dr. Loredo worked for the next three years at a National Public Health Dental Clinic in the town of Woodburn, Oregon. Part of his time there, he served as the clinic’s dental director. In July of 1987, the family moved to Watsonville, California thus completing a ten year circle back to where Dr. Loredo had graduated from high school.

 In August of 1987, with his wife’s help, he opened his own dental practice. Because Dr. Loredo is a fluent Spanish speaker, he has been able to serve the Watsonville Hispanic population in their own native language. Like he says, “I’m not just a Spanish speaker, I’m one of them.”

 Dr. Loredo and his wife Bonnie have four children and live outside Watsonville in Corralitos. His love for agriculture has never died. He owns goats, horses, chickens, dogs and cats. He loves to serve his patients but in his free time he tends to his animals, mends fences, and fixes things around the house. His wife says that, “he truly is a Mr. Fix-It at heart.”