DENTAL STUDENT PERSPECTIVE TAM NGUYEN

Paul Logan, VDA Director of Strategic Initiatives/Innovation

Tam Nguyen is a first year at the VCU School of Dentistry and shared his reflections on VDA Lobby Day, the transition to dental school and the intersection of public policy and dentistry.

As a first year dental student, how has your experience been so far?

It has been a very good experience. I have had many mentors at the school who have helped me a lot up to this point. I did a post-baccalaureate program at VCU before dental school. During my post-bacc I did an internship that included volunteer work and I got to know a lot of the faculty and students who helped direct me in the path I needed to go, which made the experience a lot smoother. I honestly didn’t think I’d be in dental school; it was a dream I really didn’t think was possible. I thought people who went to dental school or med school had to be 4.0 students with perfect entrance exams. Talking to them, I realized it’s more about hard work and enjoying what you do, and I feel fortunate to be here. And those relationships have continued to be incredibly valuable.

This was your first VDA Lobby Day, tell me about how you got involved and how it went?

Brett Siegel and Travis Luke with ASDA were advocating for VDA Lobby Day and explaining why it was important. That had me interested. It can be intimidating at first but seeing faculty members like Dr. Awab were involved help a lot. They helped ease us into talking to other dentists and legislators and made it comfortable for us to be there.

What Brett and Travis did with advocating for Lobby Day and getting us there was crucial – especially getting the D1s there this year – because as you progress through school, you may be busy, and it becomes harder to attend. Whereas for us as D1s, we were able to experience it and appreciate it. For me, I’m going to be back every year. That’s what getting involved early has taught me. What I’ve seen from ASDA is a lot of hard work that I can see paying off. And I think there’s a new culture brewing at VCU. Other than the D3s, I think the D1s were most strongly represented from the school. I think they’re doing an excellent job advocating for VDA Lobby Day and I hope we can continue that trend of getting D1s involved early so they can be a part of it.

You shared a personal story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about your experience with the Medicaid program and the need to increase access to care. Can you share some of that story?

Drs. Kirk Norbo and Justin Norbo were paired with me for my lobby day experience. I felt fortunate to have been with them because I don’t think I would have had the confidence to share my story without encouragement, and they allowed me to share my story growing up on the Medicaid program with the legislators that really put a face on the issue for them. For me, I never went to a pediatric dentist when I was young – we weren’t even aware of that specialty. What I shared with them was that I had a traumatic experience early on with the dentist. Increasing the eligibility for sedation rates for younger kids is important. Because you don’t want to traumatize them and have them afraid of the dentist and not want to come back.

Speaking as a kid who came from a lower socioeconomic background, a lot of times there’s a lack of understanding and communication to understand why oral hygiene is important. So, many times you’ll have kids who unfortunately have higher cavity risks, and now they’re at the dentist and all they experience are needles and discomfort and getting into a cycle of aversion to the dentist. The sedation legislation will allow more kids to have a comfortable experience with the dentist. Dentistry is part of your health. I’ve already learned so much about how important oral health is and starting those habits at a young age. And now with these experiences, I can see how being engaged on the policy side can really make a difference and impact the future.

Have you heard any feedback from people who read the story you shared and connected with it? I was shocked to see VCU President Michael Rao reached out to me congratulating me on the article. People like him, people from admissions and faculty at VCU. Even someone from Uganda reached out thanking me for writing it and asking for advice and mentorship as he was considering applying to the school. I felt really humbled, especially as someone who’s still learning about dentistry to have others reaching out for advice and hearing from people who it connected with.

You mentioned in your article that you’re planning to move back to the Shenandoah Valley after you graduate and see Medicaid patients in your practice. How are you preparing for those next steps? We recently had members of the VDA’s New Dentist Committee come in to speak about contracts and negotiations for their Business of Dentistry series. I really appreciated this because I can learn more about the business side of dentistry and topics, that if you don’t come from a background in the profession, really fills in the gaps. Even hearing how they spoke about the Medicaid program as new dentists was eye opening. It’s obviously a very different environment than it was 20-30 years ago when the tuition and debt was much lower. Hearing them talk about not being able to make the numbers work, that really put it into perspective why it is so important for the Medicaid reimbursement to be higher. It saddens me hearing even dentists from rural areas who aren’t taking on Medicaid patients because of the reimbursement rates. If they can’t make the numbers work then where do those patients go? It was just another perspective from the VDA that I’m glad I was exposed to and got a fuller understanding of the policy issue.

Now as we are having this conversation, the General Assembly has adjourned but they have not yet reached a compromise on the budget – the increase was included in the Senate’s version and not in the House’s. With that context, do you have anything else you would like to share with students and dentists in Virginia about getting engaged and shaping policies around oral healthcare?

I’d just like to make sure I thank the mentors I’ve had here at VCU. I work closely with admissions since I feel grateful for them taking a chance on me. I’ve been asked by classmates and other students why I spend so much time on it. For me, it’s a culture thing. I think we need to care more about people as individuals and not just what we can draw from them or how we can benefit. The way that we’re shaping the culture at VCU is important. Programs like the Business of Dentistry are important. The new dentists that spoke to us said they saw it was important for them to give back to the students. They’re spending their time here instead of with their family in hopes that when we’re at their stage we can give back as well. It was great to see that even after you make it, you can use your time and your talents to pull people up after you. I was proud to see that as a VCU student.