Dentaltown July 2021 - 41

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and dental services. It's well known that
AI/AN suffer disproportionately to oral
health disparities and Native children are
the highest group to have untreated early
childhood caries. I believe that if we can
encourage more of the AI/AN youth to
pursue careers in the dental profession,
we will be better suited to solve these
disparities in our community.
What's an upside of being in
a federally funded practice?
I think that there is a misconception
about public health dentistry being federally
or state funded. Being a community health
center means that we receive funds from the
federal government. The expectation is that
we deliver care to the community and provide
services without denying patients medically
necessary dental treatment. Through federal
funding, we're able to see patients for dental
care without rejecting patients because of
their inability to pay for that dental service.
We're also able to provide sliding fees, which
helps patients receive routine dental care
and preventive care.
Receiving funds from the government
does not mean that patients receive free dental
services that are not medically necessary.
Public health dentistry provides dental care
to so many in our community who otherwise
would not have accessible urgent dental care
or afford routine dental care.
How does your
average day look?
I work either 7 a.m.-6 p.m. or 7 a.m.-5
p.m. four days per week, and these are all
hours doing direct patient care. Two days
per week I am expanded with a hygienist,
when I do a lot of restorative. I have a lefthanded
hygienist (I am also left-handed)
who shares my strong work ethic, so we
make a great team and those days are my
favorites because I feel like we work like a
well-oiled machine. I typically see 20-30
patients per day, and the resident who
works under me sees about 8-12. We have
an emergency hour for same-day dental
emergencies who aren't patients of record.
dentaltown.com \\ JULY 2021 41
Tell us about the Northwest
Dental Residency program.
I am a mentoring dentist for the NDR,
which is an AEGD residency program. We
typically have 8-9 residents per year who are
spread out between multiple sites, most being
federally qualified health centers (FQHCs)
in rural communities in Washington state.
With budget cuts, our incoming 2021-22
class will be five residents.
The program is structured slightly
differently from other residencies because
it's within a community dental clinic setting,
and also our residents get selected to work
under one particular dentist for the full
year, rather than working under multiple
mentoring faculty.
Initially, I wasn't super excited about
teaching but have grown to love it! The first
years out of dental school are so critical, and
there's a lot still to be learned. I take the
responsibility of preparing these dentists
for real life very seriously.
How are the new dentists
you mentor?
I find it interesting that young dentists
want to jump right into doing aesthetic
dentistry and placing implants when really,
they need to focus on getting their speed
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Dentaltown July 2021

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