A real, live honest-to-goodness “Okie from Muskogee” just opened a new medical practice in Sebastian.
Dr. T. Seth Tudor may be from the Oklahoma town made famous by the late country music legend Merle Haggard’s song, but that’s where the similarities pretty much end.
For starters, this tall, lanky otolaryngologist – or ENT physician – would have towered over the 5-foot-8-inch Haggard.
Moreover, while Haggard dropped out of high school during his first year, Tudor completed his Bachelor of Science degree at Oklahoma State University, earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree in Tulsa, and then went on to serve an otolaryngology head and neck surgery residency with the Freeman Health System just across the Oklahoma state line in Joplin, Mo.
And, while many may immediately associate “ear, nose and throat” doctors with simply treating allergies or – as many parents know – with finding and safely removing a whole slew of foreign object like crayons, beads and rubber bands from their children’s ears and noses and such, Tudor notes there’s much more to his chosen specialty than that.
He points to “head and neck cancers” along with oral cancers, skin cancers, throat cancers, thyroid surgeries and parathyroid surgeries as being “fair game” for ENT physicians like himself.
The American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery adds facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, the surgical treatment of abnormalities of the face and neck and ears, deviated septum, obstructive sleep apnea, endoscopic sinus surgery, salivary gland surgery, rhinoplasty, face lifts, cleft palates and a host of other conditions affecting the head and neck to Tudor’s potential “to-do” list.
It also says ENT specialists “differ from many physicians in that they are trained in both medicine and surgery. Otolaryngologists do not need to refer patients to other physicians when ear, nose, throat, or head and neck surgery is needed and therefore can offer the most appropriate care for each individual patient.”
The young Oklahoma State Cowboys fan says simply, “I plan on doing a true general ENT practice,” including “the full gamut of procedures and operations.
“I really like ENT,” says the soft-spoken Tudor, “because I get to treat patients in all stages of their lives. I’ll see babies. I’ll see adults and adolescents and all the way up into [those in] their later years. I get to see a wide range of patients that have a wide range of problems. ENT is never boring. That’s one of the main things that appeals to me.”
As to why the town of Sebastian and the Sebastian River Medical center appealed to him, that answer is similarly simple.
“I looked at a couple other places in Florida and the folks that worked here at SRMC seemed to be a lot more close-knit, and everybody was very welcoming and warm and that really appealed to me,” Tudor says.
“My wife and I are newlyweds as of October and we love Florida. We’ve visited many times for vacation and conferences, so we thought, why not? Let’s try to live there, it’s so great.”
It probably didn’t hurt the Tudor’s decision-making process that it has been a while since a true general ENT practice has been available in Sebastian.
“Every primary care practice doc that I’ve talked to and also some specialty doctors say they have a list of patients they’re sending to me,” Tudor confides.
Then he adds, “I’ve talked to some of the pediatricians and they also say they’ve got a long list of patients, so hopefully I’ll get to see a lot of kids, as well.”
At the opposite end of the age spectrum, Tudor says he also expects to see as many seniors as children since, “sun damage is cumulative” and in Florida, “a lot of older folks have got skin cancers and that’s the kind of thing that we would take care of.”
In fact, Florida – with its seemingly never-ending seasons of allergy-triggering pollens, molds, ragweeds and dust mites, along with its burgeoning senior population now starting to suffer the consequences of long-term exposure to the sun – and its Treasure Coast might just be the perfect place for a young, energetic board-certified otolaryngologist from Oklahoma to open a general ENT practice.
Dr. T. Seth Tudor’s new offices are at 12920 U.S. Highway One in Sebastian. The phone number is 772-228-9808.
