Just a few days ago, Rich Constantine's dance popularity was limited to weddings and to dance battles with his wife in their living room.
He danced his way into international fame Thursday with his participation in Drake's "In My Feelings" song and the social media challenge.
After Instagram comedian TheShiggyShow put a dance together for the song off Drake's latest album "Scorpion," thousands of people across the globe followed suit, posting videos of themselves doing The Shiggy dance on social media.
Constantine, owner of Constantine Dental in Greenville, was one of those people. His rendition of the challenge, titled "In My Fillings," had attracted more than 47 million views as of Monday.
The video also received more than 179,000 comments and 594,000 shares on Facebook.
It's something Constantine had never done before. He said the only dancing he'd done in the past was at weddings and at home with his wife, “just joking around."
Constantine was encouraged to take the social media challenge by his staff.
"We like to do fun stuff to break from the office," he said. "They had asked me (to do this) for a couple of weeks straight, but I was too embarrassed to do it in front of them."
So he waited until they went to lunch Thursday afternoon. Then he set up his camera and danced.
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He posted the results on Thursday afternoon, expecting a few people in Greenville, some of his friends, and a few family members who follow him to view it on Facebook and Instagram.
He never expected it to be shared so many times or to get so many views.
There was “a good, quick” response to it, he said.
Business picked up immediately.
On Friday, the office scheduled 21 new local patients before the office closed for the day at noon, he said. On Monday, phones continued to ring.
He said one of the most important outcomes was being able to reach so many people to make them smile.
That’s part of the reason Constantine, a 37-year-old native of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, got into dentistry.
Growing up, Constantine’s orthodontist and dentist were among his mentors.
So, "the opportunity to be able to work with my hands and create smiles for people really appealed to me because they had done so much for me," he said.
According to his online bio, Constantine majored in biology with a minor in psychology at Ohio University. That’s where he met his wife, Trish, a nurse.
They got married three weeks prior to him starting dental school. He received his doctorate in dental surgery at the West Virginia University School of Dentistry in 2009. He and his wife moved to Greenville three days after his graduation.
Constantine has been practicing dentistry for nine years. He opened Constantine Dental, off Augusta Road, three years ago.
He describes it as a modern, comprehensive dental practice, where the focus is always on the patient, Constantine said.
"We get that people don't always like going to the dentist," he said. "That's why we do fun things like this to make us seem more approachable so that people will feel that they're cared for and attended to."
Constantine enjoys being in the gym, being involved in almost anything sports related, and spending time with Trish.
They celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary Monday as his video continued to go viral.
“It’s going to be an anniversary we won’t forget,” he said. “That’s for sure.”
When asked if he'd participate in similar future challenges, Constantine said, "I don't know. You'll just have to wait and see, I guess."
“I've got some stuff planned," he said. "It's going to be a lot of fun, I think."
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