Alumni Profile Q&A: Dr. James Thomas – Dentist, changemaker, author

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Dr. James “JT” Thomas initially took a traditional route in opening a pediatric dentistry practice after graduating from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry with a DDS degree in 2003 and a master’s degree in pediatric dentistry in 2005. His first practice was NW Pediatric Dentistry in Bellevue, Washington, where he focused on good oral health through early intervention and prevention-based outcomes. In 2013, he rebranded the practice to “Everyone By One” to encourage families to seek dental care for their children by age 1. After treating thousands of children over the first decade of his career, he was struck by the number of newborn babies who had trouble nursing and breathing, and the stress it caused for parents and families in the first weeks and months after a baby is born. He traveled extensively across the country to identify and learn from clinicians conducting early investigations on infant feeding, infant growth, and oral restriction releases. In 2017, he created a niche healthcare model called health:latch, borrowing the term from how babies “latch” onto the breast or bottle when feeding. The mission is to educate, diagnose and support families with challenges related to early infant feeding, including tongue, lip and buccal ties. He has written a book, soon to be released on Amazon, titled “Why Babies Suck.”  In a recent interview, Dr. Thomas discussed his time at the dental school, his career path, and the new book.

Q: In your author thank-you list in the book, you credit the University of Michigan, which you say “didn’t just teach me, but weaponized me with knowledge, empathy, and the courage to build new models of care.” When you think back on your six years at the dental school, what or who left the biggest impression on you?

A: When I think back on my time at the dental school, I’m filled with gratitude for the people who shaped me. Faculty like Drs. Heys, Piskorowski, Ismail, Palmer, McNamara, Straffon, Eboda, Briskie, Lawrence, Majewski, and so many others did more than teach dentistry. They taught me to think, to question, and to care deeply. My classmates, including Drs. Daniels, Doublestein, Eichenberger, Tujios and VanDeven, were constant sources of encouragement and strength. Together, we learned that doing things differently isn’t a risk; it’s a responsibility.

When I said Michigan “weaponized me,” I meant it gave me the tools to examine research critically, challenge accepted norms and imagine a future of care more compassionate than the present. It taught me that the word “no” is often the beginning of innovation. The university’s spirit of “Leaders and Best” lives in that courage to question, to create, and to serve with empathy.

Q: After a decade in traditional pediatric dentistry, you decided to refocus your work by creating health:latch, an entirely different approach to healthcare for babies and their parents. As a self-described changemaker, what common problems or trends were you seeing in your young patients that led you to this change?

A:  I began to see the same story unfold again and again. Parents came in with tired eyes and anxious hearts. Babies struggled to feed or grow, and families were desperate for answers that felt both human and evidence-based. I realized that something deeper was missing. The system had become efficient but not empathetic. We had protocols, but we were losing connection.

That realization changed everything for me. I started traveling the country, meeting with clinicians who were asking the same questions I was: Why are we treating babies as cases instead of relationships? Those conversations lit a fire in me. I wanted to build a model of care that didn’t just fix infant feeding problems but empowered families to understand them.

That’s how health:latch was born. It began as a small space for babies and their parents, but it quickly evolved into a movement. The idea was simple but radical – that education and empathy could be the foundation of healthcare. Every family that walks through our doors learns that their story matters, that they are not broken, and that they can be an active part of their child’s healing.
Today, health:latch is more than a clinic. It’s a platform for change, a call to reimagine how we care for the earliest bonds in life. I believe that when we invest in those first moments between a baby and a parent, we build the foundation for healthier, more connected generations. That’s what drives me every single day.

Q: You commit much of your book to reinforcing that moms and dads know their babies better than anyone through observation and intuition. Yet they are sometimes intimidated by doctors who say the baby’s feeding problem is common and they will grow out of it. You’ve said: “Parents don’t need permission to lead their baby’s care. They just need support that sees them, listens early, and honors what they already know.” It seems that supporting and counseling parents is a significant part of your practice, beyond any treatment or procedure you provide to the baby.

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A:  Parents do know their babies best. What they often need is not permission, but partnership. For generations, the village that once welcomed new families was comprised of neighbors and relatives. Today, distance, careers and time have scattered that support. I believe we can rebuild the village through collaboration within healthcare – a connected network of professionals across the country who share the same values about newborn care, feeding and family support.
At health:latch, I focus on helping parents and providers collaborate in a therapy-first model rooted in respect and curiosity. It leads parents to start asking “how” instead of “why,” and this is when everything changes. “Why” questions chase isolated symptoms. “How” questions uncover the patterns that explain what’s really happening. That’s where meaningful, functional plans are built. Plans that help babies thrive rather than just survive.

Q: Along those same lines, although you diagnose and treat babies directly … among your procedures are tongue tie frenectomies using a CO2 cold laser … you emphasize healthcare teamwork. You often recommend that parents consult lactation consultants, craniosacral therapists and speech-language pathologists, among others. It seems you are advocating an evolution in the longstanding healthcare provider approach that has traditionally viewed a single doctor as an all-knowing expert.

A:  I’ve never believed that one provider should hold all the answers. Babies and families are far too complex for a single viewpoint to capture everything they need. Every clinician brings a different lens, and when we learn together, we move closer to what truly helps families heal. That’s why I often encourage parents to build a team around their baby.

I connect daily with lactation consultants, craniosacral therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, osteopaths, pediatricians, ENT specialists, speech-language pathologists, sleep specialists, doulas, midwives, obstetricians, and many more. Each professional offers unique insight into a baby’s growth, feeding and function. When these perspectives come together, we move from treating isolated issues to understanding the complete picture of the child.

In the book, I wrote, “Formal training takes us only part of the way. It is through humility, clinical experience, ongoing education, and interdisciplinary collaboration that we move toward the center of the target. Closer to the real needs of the families we serve.” Expertise without humility creates distance. Collaboration with humility builds trust. My goal is to keep moving all of us – parents and professionals alike – toward that center of the target, where care is guided not by ego, silos or hierarchy, but by shared purpose and compassion for the families we serve.

Q: You have a chapter in the book titled, “A Message for the Provider Who’s Reading This.” How have medical doctors, and pediatricians in particular, reacted to a dentist creating a new approach for treating newborns and older babies?

A:  I’ve been asked that question many times, and the truth is that most of my colleagues in medicine and dentistry have responded with curiosity and openness. As I wrote in the book, “Through my continued journey, I find something extraordinary unfolding across the healthcare landscape. Dentists are asking about sleep and airway development. Pediatricians are exploring feeding coordination and tongue function. Therapists are identifying patterns before delays occur. Our body of research is growing, and the silos are softening not from mandates, but through our shared mission. This is not a critique of healthcare professionals. It celebrates what becomes possible when we walk toward one another with open minds and aligned purpose.”

That shift is happening because so many of us are realizing that families deserve better than isolated answers. The pediatrician, dentist, therapist and lactation consultant all play a part in the same story. When we put those parts together, we start solving the real problem instead of treating fragments of it. So, I don’t see my work as disrupting medicine, but as expanding it. The more we collaborate, the closer we get to care that reflects how babies actually live – in whole systems, surrounded by people who care enough to work together.

Q: You’ve said that you try to be “Radically Kind, Fiercely Patient, Disruptively Brave and Defiantly Joyful” in your daily life.  That sounds like an endorsement for the healing power of empathy and kindness.

A:  In the early days of health:latch back in 2017, when few understood what I was trying to do, I had to lead by being radically kind. When insurance companies rejected claims, liability carriers saw risk in treating four-day-old babies with a laser, and when peers questioned the science behind our work, I had to be fiercely patient. Writing “Why Babies Suck” became my way to be disruptively brave. To continually challenge myself and healthcare conventions, and to bring this message to a broader audience. Suppose the message in the book does what I hope it will. In that case, if universities begin teaching it, soon-to-be parents have it on their baby registries, and professionals recommend it to new families – then maybe, together, we’ll reach that final stage: defiantly joyful. Because joy, to me, is proof that empathy works. It’s what happens when courage meets compassion. The belief that knowledge, empathy, kindness and courage can change lives is something the University of Michigan didn’t just teach me. It’s something it planted deep within me.

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More information on Dr. James Thomas and his new book is available at this website:  https://www.healthlatch.com/why-babies-suck

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The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral healthcare education, research, patient care and community service.  General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the school to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan.  Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia and public agencies.  Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide.  For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit us on the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu.  Email: [email protected], or (734) 615-1971.