Da r r in bl a ckma n, D.D.S. Ser ving Ot her s t hr ough Dent ist r y

By Mallory (Goebel) Hertel ?07

In 2005, Dr. Darrin Blackman ?91, DDS, began a fulfilling career as a dentist for the Navajo people in Arizona He began his dentistry residency at Winslow Indian Health Care Center in Winslow, Arizona, and after completing the residency, he began work as a dentist at Winslow Indian Healthcare Within a year, he took over the residency program and the student extern program and a short time later was promoted to Deputy Chief Dental Officer Winslow Indian Health Care Center has three dental clinics and two mobile dental clinics that serve the area Navajo people ?Being an Indian Healthcare facility, we are the last line of care for the people. We often do not have the ability to refer a patient out to a dental specialist for care, so, for example, if a patient has very bad dental decay, we would be the dentist to do the root canal therapy or surgical extraction He continues, ?I thrive on difficult dentistry, the challenge is fun! You have to ?use all the tools in the toolbox?is what I like to tell the students and residents ? In 2015, Dr Blackman completed a Master in Education with a concentration in Dental Education Administration.

Currently, he is a Northern Arizona Associate Director of Advanced Education General Dentistry (AEGD) for NYU

Langone Health, Adjunct Dental Faculty for Tufts University, at Still University, and North Carolina University, and an AEGD site visitor for Council on Dental Accreditation for the American Dental Association

?I very much love teaching and doing complex dentistry working for the Navajo people Additionally, I get a large amount of joy and fulfillment out of teaching the next dentists coming into the world. The one-year AEGD residency here at Winslow Indian Health Care is an additional year of advanced training after the dentists have graduated They are already dentists but choose to get more experience in things like implants, advanced oral surgery procedures, advanced endodontic procedures, laser training, computer aided design and milling of restoration of teeth, and sedation dentistry just to name a few of the things We also have fourth year dental students from previously mentioned dental schools come to our clinic for five weeks to get some experience working in a different environment than they are used to at the dental school ?When asked what has been a motivator in staying in Arizona working at Winslow Indian Healthcare, he shared, ?? the Navajo people have welcomed me and encouraged me to advance the programs we have here as much as we can In the time I have been here, we have added mobile dental clinics, started an orthodontics program for the patients, upgraded the clinics and built new modern clinics, and have the most advanced dentistry technology that you can get ?He continued, ?As far as I may seem from Mater Dei and Evansville, the core values that I uphold both spiritually and educationally were laid by not only my parents, but upheld and strengthened by my education at Westside Catholic School (WCS) and Mater Dei My parents, Dennis and Dixie, both made great sacrifices to provide me with the best education and childhood experience I could have, including sending me to one of the best educational environments in Mater Dei While I may not have stood out among my classmates as the top in academia or sports, my hard work made me a strong candidate to continue my education at higher levels. I have completed a large amount of education in my life and the practice of dentistry requires constant learning to stay on top of the latest. Mater Dei and WCS started that foundational learning long ago and gave me the tools to succeed not only as a higher education student, but also solidified the desire to be a lifelong learner I am very appreciative of the teachers and environment that Mater Dei provided me with so many years ago to allow me all that I have accomplished up to this point and I?m not done yet As the Navajo say ?A hé heé?or ?Thank you."