AUBURN — Rose Sheline wasn’t planning to come to America — until she met Carl on a mission trip.

He spent two weeks in the Philippines, her home country, in 1998. They wrote each other for the next three years while she finished dental school.

A decade later, she still wasn’t planning to move here.

“This is the 10th or 11th practice we visited,” Sheline said. “I said, ‘Carl, this is the last one.'”

And then, it was.

“The people are great, very accepting,” she said. “I don’t think we will ever turn back.”

Sheline, 35, said she knew early on that she wanted to be a dentist. When she was in either the first or second grade, she had a tooth pulled at school during a visiting dental clinic.

She remembers asking her mom why it had to hurt so much, and she decided to find out.

After marrying Carl, they settled in Arizona and Sheline pursued a second dentistry degree. Her degree from the Philippines wasn’t enough to practice in the U.S.

She worked in Ohio and Maryland before turning north to New England.

The couple settled here four years ago.

As a teen, her parents had given her a choice — piano lessons or college — so two years ago, she started weekly lessons on her lunch break, practicing the classics. She has a piano in her office at Center Street Dental.

“It’s good exercise for the fingers,” Sheline said. “Sometimes in between my patients, I’ll wiggle my fingers, relax a bit.”

She enjoys Maine for the mountains, hiking, beaches and ocean. The family, with an 11-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, is active, hiking places such as Mount Battie in Camden, Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal and the Eyebrow Loop Trail in Grafton Notch State Park.

“I don’t think that’s for kids,” Sheline said of the Eyebrow Loop Trail. “We didn’t realize until we were there.”

Laughing, she added, it was a little harrowing, but the kids enjoyed it.

Next month, she’ll once again separate local kids from their candy — gently — with the fourth annual Halloween candy buyback. Sheline collected 200 pounds on Nov. 1.

Sheline said she often works while humming a tune, frequently something from Disney. 

“They like it; they feel relaxed,” she said. “When you’re relaxed, everything goes smoothly.”

It’s something her first-grader self appreciates.

“That makes me feel good — when a patient’s like, ‘Wow, I didn’t feel anything.'”

Know someone everyone knows? Contact staff writer Kathryn Skelton at 689-2844 or kskelton@sunjournal.com.