Wearing the Colors of Dentistry with Dr. Alice Hoang

After graduating from the Medical University of South Carolina in 2010 and spending a decade in New York City practicing in community health dentistry and education — and a few years in private practice — I co-founded my dental studio, Brooklyn Mint Dental.

At Brooklyn Mint, I practice mindful, modern, whole-health, and patient-centered dentistry with a passion and commitment to clinical excellence and social and environmental consciousness. Our studio delivers on my vision, which is to challenge the expectations of traditional dentistry using advanced technology, creativity, and integrity in a vibrant and refined atmosphere.

We run a number of social consciousness initiatives at Brooklyn Mint, and spearheading this work truly motivates me every day by giving me a medium beyond dentistry to use in supporting our community. For example, we’re currently offering small businesses a discounted membership plan — called Mint Condition Membership — so they can affordably offer dental benefits to their staff. We also have several co-marketing collaborations with neighborhood businesses and prioritize working with small enterprises with a hyperlocal focus. Additionally, we support artists in the community through residencies and commission-free use of our space for art and community projects. And as a way of continuing to pay it forward, 10% of the proceeds for our Mint Condition Memberships go to a rotating list of non-profits whose missions tackle the same issues we feel passionate about — like protecting our environment, improving access to care, and opposing racial injustice and inequality. Last but not least, we offer smile sponsorships/scholarships so that people or nonprofits can gift a makeover to someone in need.

In the longer term, I’d like to create a dental assistant training program for single parents, allowing participants to get paid while learning the skills to become a DA. Because we are fully digital, those skills would also include being taught CAD/ CAM and smile design. The idea is to cross-train, so additional areas of learning would encompass concierge-level service and various aspects of business management (insurance navigation, etc.). This would allow trainees to create an income stream that works for them and their families. The program design stems from my experience working in community health: I treated so many parents, many of them single heads of household who were grinding away at multiple jobs and gigs, and unable to have financial or logistical breathing room to do things they loved, like spending time with their kids. I’m hoping that this program, once built, could give them access to stable employment with benefits.

I’d say that similarly, my vision for my life and my dental practice are both influenced by my lived experience in the world. That experience was completely transformed when I finally started living life out loud as my authentic self.

Alice’s experience working at Callen-Lorde—the global leader of LGBTQ health—was life-changing.

When I finally came out in dental school, my life changed. It’s challenging to explain how something as small as opening up about yourself to the people immediately around you can change every aspect of how you experience your world. They say coming out isn’t a singular event — it’s an act you repeat every time you tell someone, and it gets easier over time.

After I came out, I decided to move to New York, knowing that living in a gay mecca would speed up my journey to living a truly authentic and free life. After finishing my GPR at Montefiore Medical Center, I worked at Callen-Lorde—the global leader in LGBTQ health.

While living in New York helped me to feel more comfortable wearing my colors, I credit my decade-long career at Callen-Lorde for helping me embrace gay pride not as a day or a month but as a lifestyle. There, I was given the tools to discover and welcome my authentic self and the opportunity to connect with other LGBTQ people just trying to make it through. Most importantly, while there, I realized that I belong to a true community. All in all, it was an incredibly rewarding experience in self-discovery while also letting me help those in my community who were disenfranchised and marginalized, giving them access to the quality care they deserved.

The importance of inclusion in dentistry.

Inclusion requires the involvement of other people, and involving others invites opportunities to empower others. People gain a sense of dignity, security, self-worth, and respect through inclusion: inclusion is such a simple concept that its importance — and the subtle ways it is denied to people — are easily overlooked. The simple act of silence as a gesture of neutrality is enough to express exclusion.

People are at their best when they are true to themselves. To be one’s authentic self, one must feel included. When people feel included, they’re better able to contribute to wider groups and society at large without fear of being ostracized. They can freely bring ideas forward from their diverse and differing perspectives and backgrounds while feeling safe.

But that’s the thing: that very space of authenticity and safety is more easily described than created. To foster new perspectives and create environments where people of different backgrounds can contribute, people must take the step to be authentic to who they are while also being empowered and welcome to do so.

Frame a new perspective: Always welcome change.

All that said, I strongly believe that principles of inclusivity are easy to understand for those who want to learn and practice them. I was required to take courses on these topics during my onboarding at Callen-Lorde. I remember telling a friend about it, and they were surprised, assuming that I’d already synthesized these perspectives because I’m gay. But I had to learn as anyone else might. I don’t know what I don’t know, and I’m not scared to learn more about it. If you’re a dentist interested in learning and expanding your perspective, what’s stopping you?

I’ve also learned that inclusive practice is fundamentally rooted in the people who comprise it, which is why our staff happens to be extremely diverse and incredibly compassionate, consummate professionals. (As a side note, we’re also half LGBTQ).

We try to ground this in other ways too. From a visual and environmental standpoint, we designed it as a neutral but inviting open space where everyone feels welcome and safe. Our goal was for the experience to feel less like healthcare and more life self-care while also offering whole-health, patient-centered dentistry. We hoped to set the tone of inclusion and representation the moment you enter our studio, where people enter Brooklyn Mint and think: “This is not what I thought a dentist visit would be like at all.”

What ripple do you want to create?

What does success look like to you? What do you want to be remembered for when you die? What do you want others to think, say, or feel about you when you are gone? What do you want to leave behind? What do you want to be your legacy?

From this exercise, you learn who you are, what you stand for, what you want to be, and how you want to represent these values. Use this to ground you when you meet adversity because you will.

If you’re reading this, I encourage you to try this out. What we all know from the last few years is that tomorrow isn’t promised. What you do today is a choice. Even if you start small—you can start today.

When you look at the dental industry, it’s easy to see that it’s full of so many different people of varying backgrounds. I don’t just know this from being in the dental field for decades, either. Being the son of immigrant parents from Vietnam, I’m a firsthand example of diversity in dentistry.

However, when attending dental conferences and events in the past, I used to leave feeling a bit disappointed—everyone just seemed very similar to one another. It always made me think about how that’s a bad representation of how our industry is, because we have so many unique and interesting folks with such different life stories to tell.

That’s why I’m such a big fan of what Chris “Love” Williams and Karese Laguerre are doing with their Dental Culture Con—and I’m so excited to play a part in it. Chris and Karese launched the Dental Culture Con because they were feeling the same way I had about dental conferences and events.

The lineup of speakers that Chris and Karese have assembled for the Dental Culture Con blows me away with how impressive it is, and I’m so honored to be one of them. These are top-of-the-line speakers stemming from a multitude of different backgrounds and belonging to a wide spectrum of different cultures.

Before I really dive into the Dental Culture Con, though, first thing’s first: Let’s take a step back and learn a little bit about the two masterminds behind this masterpiece.

Chris’s journey to becoming a “Prophy King.”

Chris is a United States Air Force veteran turned dental hygienist, entrepreneur, speaker, and life coach. With a passion for helping others, Chris has dedicated his life to empowering individuals to lead fulfilling lives with a personal mission to impact 1,000,000 people. As an accomplished professional and motivational speaker, Chris inspires audiences with his unique perspective and infectious enthusiasm.

Chris has a YouTube channel, and he didn’t typically talk about his experience being the not-so-typical dental hygienist until relatively recently. Since then, however, support has been pouring in from fellow men who feel empowered by him to pursue the path of dental hygiene. He only made these videos to share his story and be his authentic self—he didn’t expect to get the following that he did. But the support he received launched him on a different path and has influenced his life immensely, helping him to venture into speaking, coaching, and so on.

Karese started as a dental hygienist, but now she’s more interested in myofunctional therapy.

Meanwhile, Karese is also a registered dental hygienist, but she doesn’t practice anymore. Instead, she has pivoted to becoming a myofunctional therapist. In addition to being the co-founder of the Dental Culture Con, Karese founded The Myo Spot, a practice aimed at amplifying oral wellness to whole body wellness. Through tele-therapy she helps clients of all ages overcome tongue ties, TMJ disorders, sleep apnea, grinding, anxiety, and various breathing and orofacial dysfunction. Passionate about education and self-help, she published Accomplished: How to Sleep Better, Eliminate Burnout and Execute Goals.

Karese has heard a lot of fellow dental professionals telling her to “stick in her lane” and just stick with doing hygiene. Karese’s decision to venture into the airway territory actually came from her children (when not working with clients globally she spends time with her husband and four kids). As parents, we all like to share the highlight reels. When someone asks how your kids are doing, you’ll tell them that your daughter is in dance or your son is in basketball—everything awesome going on in their lives. Karese feels like there’s an underbelly where we don’t talk about those less appealing yet common aspects of their lives like asthma, chronic congestion, and so on.

Chris and Karese don’t consider the Dental Culture Con to be a conference—”It’s an experience.”

The Dental Culture Con is unique in so many senses. You’re not going to go there to sit in a cold room, stuffed full of people, with long days spent getting overloaded with information. While it’s going to be held virtually, you’ll have the opportunity to interact much more than you would in your typical Zoom meeting.

The Dental Culture Con will take place from June 15th to June 17th, and it’s super easy to sign up. Just register at www. dentalculturecon.com. There, you can also learn about what Chris and Karese will be doing, what speakers you’ll get the chance to listen to, and what workshops will be available to you. Representation matters at the Dental Culture Con—it’s a safe space where everyone will be seen, heard, and represented.