ADA News

Culver City, Calif.—Pat Sajak cares about flossing.

Photo credit: Carol Kaelson

"Pat was really into oral hygiene and brushing and flossing and was asking me a million questions," said Dr. Robyn Flores, who met Sajak last month.

Dr. Flores, a general practice dentist in Nipomo, Calif., didn't just meet Sajak and his counterpart, Vanna White, she won $38,624 and a trip to Cabo San Lucas on their game show. After being a fan of the show nearly all her life, Dr. Flores won the opportunity to appear as a contestant.

When she learned to read, it was the puzzles on "Wheel of Fortune" Dr. Flores fixed her eyes on. Dr. Flores, 27, has been watching the popular game show since she was a little girl, even recording it every night so she doesn't miss an episode. Finally, she gave in and applied online to be a contestant.

"It's been a fantasy dream, but I never thought I would actually go and do it," said Dr. Flores, who graduated last June from the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health.

In September, Dr. Flores was invited to audition in Culver City, where she was put in a room with 60 people and had to play fake games of "Wheel of Fortune" and take a written test, which she said was "difficult, to say the least." She found out a couple weeks later she made the cut and filmed her episode in January.

"It was awesome," Dr. Flores said.

On a blog entry she wrote for the "Wheel of Fortune" website, Dr. Flores said, "Game day was the most nervous I have ever been in my life. It seems so easy from the comfort of your home, but it felt so surreal once I was actually there."

Dr. Flores made it to the final round and solved the puzzle: exact change.

"I felt like the happiest girl in the world, and when my family came running out, I couldn't have been happier," Dr. Flores wrote in her blog. "It was the moment I have been dreaming of since I started watching 'Wheel of Fortune,' and I couldn’t believe it was actually happening."