When One Plus One Doesn’t Equal Two

For many in their professional careers, there comes a point when the path forward isn’t easy to find. The timing of this lack of clarity may vary, but if you practice long enough in dentistry, it may undoubtedly find you. For me, a practicing pediatric dentist in Connecticut, that moment arrived in 2021, but the journey began much earlier than that. I had been one of the lucky ones, who discovered her specialty passion in dental school. Pediatric dentistry with all of its unknowns and unpredictable patients, brought me the excitement and energy I craved in a profession with boundless possibilities for positive change. The impact of creating healthier outcomes for children, modifying their behaviors, and delivering quality healthcare in creative and efficient methods was and still is very appealing to me. My matriculation through dental school followed by a post-graduate residency led me to the unexpected world of not just being a pediatric dentist but also an educator, teaching, and eventually leading a pediatric dentistry residency program. Varying professional paths in private practice, hospital dentistry, and ultimately academia have defined my more than 15 years of practice. However, it is in the world of dental education that I made some of my biggest discoveries in the current disconnect and divide that exist for many academics of color.

The benefit of differences in experiences should be growth. Implementing from experience, the advantages of what works best, while learning from the mistakes of what does not, is the very nature of progress. But what happens when the outlook of that experience is limited? Or the benefit of varying perspective, brought by both diversity of culture and thought, is missing? Then perhaps the outcome is an educational pool not fully reflective of the vast communities that they serve. Academic development for faculty within dental schools in the US, has taken on a greater importance in organized dentistry within the last 15 years. Despite the strides made in individual institutions and national organizations, the faculty support for dental educators of color, and specifically African Americans, is still lacking. This road being less traveled, in dental education, took a significant turn in 2020, when the country as a whole entered a period of social unrest. Dentistry, like many other sectors within America, had to address this social reckoning and for many dental schools like mine, it meant engaging the students and residents in support and expression. One forum answering the call was the resurgence of a minority student mentorship group for both medical and dental students at the university. While a multitude of African American physicians, both fulland part-time faculty, rose to the occasion, I was the only African American dental faculty present to support the dental student participants. Not because the others had prior obligations or possible conflicts, but because in 2020, like in 2019 and 2018 and so on; I was the only African American Dentist Faculty in the School of Dental Medicine.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, I provided mentorship to the minority dental students, one of the greatest pleasures I experienced during the Pandemic. It was educational, to listen to their perspective on not just the current social concerns, but the pandemic and the impact and trauma both were having on them. The striking disparity in support for both the minority students and myself, for all intents and purposes, at a well-meaning institution could not be overlooked. The juxtaposition of the school’s desire to recognize the obvious national upheaval and support the student body, while not sharing the consistent interest in recruitment and retention of minority faculty parallel to society’s blind eye finally finding its sight. The school’s perplexing activities were somewhat analogous to the patient in your practice who is only interested in the cleanings but not the restorative care.

I got to release my own concerns in the safe space I created with the students and we became for each other a bonded unit, not because we all saw the world in the same way, but perhaps because the world sees us all the same. It was during this time that I started to also reflect on the experiences relayed by fellow colleagues at other institutions, and heard the familiar pattern of isolation in spite of well-meaning platitudes. When the numbers bear a different priority from the words uttered, as they say, therein lies the problem. But what can be done about it?

Professional networking is an essential component in most careers and has historically been the backbone of how most dental educators of color have navigated academia. The question, however, is should it be the default solution to the lack of academic support? The answer should be no. It is the responsibility of dental education institutions to recognize academic development as an obligation to a thriving educational system. It is our responsibility as dental professionals to participate and encourage this recognition in demanding more from our educational and governing bodies. It begins with organizations like ADEA launching a pivotal Dental Education Climate Assessment on Diversity and Inclusion survey in the spring of 2022 but is more impacted by the consistent outcomes that follow later in the year and beyond. It continues with all dental professionals increasing awareness of statistics involving other segments of the population other than our own within our profession and feeling uncomfortable about what the data truly reflects. For example, the following article published in Journal of Dental Education in April 2021 highlighted the minuscule growth of Black and African American enrolled dental students when compared to the overall US population: https://doi.org/10.1002/ jdd.12611.

It’s nurtured by incorporating evidence-based assessments and evaluation tools that encompass a realistic and effective appraisal of our teaching staff as well as the investment in pedagogy within our faculty programs to advance their performance and consistent outcomes.

For my part, I am taking a step in being the change that I seek, through the creation of my company PGP Dental Consultancy, while transitioning to an Adjunct Assistant Professor Position. I

have embraced creating a forum to address an opportunity that demands our attention. I have partnered with ICQ Global, a leader in people development, to create coaching strategies for academic development with a focus on cognitive and cultural diversity and inclusion. The realization that the conversations and experiences being repeated by minority dentists at so many institutions are waiting for participants and onlookers alike to step to the forefront, leading the way in a call to action. If necessity be the mother of invention, then I particularly encourage all DeWs to tap into their intuition and foster change through mentorship and the supplemental support that is so needed within our profession.

While I am excited in my new entrepreneurial adventure, I feel compelled to still engage in dental education. To be representative of encouraging a younger generation of why their representation matters and countering the void created when that needed voice isn’t there. Embarking on a more inclusive and equitable support for a diverse dental profession, will require the active work of all its members. It requires African American providers like myself to traverse spaces that I once may have thought uncomfortable or felt like I would not have been fully embraced. It requires me to first share common ground with others and then embark on tackling differences. It takes those whose perspectives are totally different to place a higher priority on viewing the landscape through a different lens. One which may appear unclear and out of focus at the beginning but quickly gains reassurance, recognizing that it isn’t someone else’s, just yours to forge as you go.

She served as Program Director, 2011-2013, and has extensive private practice experience in both New York and Connecticut. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry and has memberships in the Connecticut State Dental Association, American Dental Association, ADEA and American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. KP is an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine Department of Craniofacial Sciences: Division of Pediatric Dentistry. When not involved in her passions of education and dentistry, she can be found embracing her other joys of travel, animals, music, and tennis.