By Teri Speece<\/p>\n
For Tam Van, D.D.S, director of the Geriatric Dentistry Clinic at UT Dentistry San Antonio, dentistry involves many gray areas.
\n\u201cNot a lot is black and white,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have 10 dentists in a room and one patient, it\u2019s very possible that you will get 10 treatment plans, depending on each dentist\u2019s philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Van believes this is even truer for her patients. The practice provides tailored dental services for senior citizens who have a difficult time being seen in a private practice due to systemic conditions, functional or cognitive limitations and complex medication profiles. An elderly patient at her clinic may take more than a dozen medications, have diabetes or suffer from dementia.<\/p>\n
Her mission is to teach students how to take these issues\u2014as well as quality-of-life issues\u2014into account.
\n\u201cBecause of their ages and medical considerations, you really have to look at the whole patient\u2014including their well-being\u2014to determine the best options for treatment,\u201d said Dr. Van, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry in the School of Dentistry at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio. UT Dentistry San Antonio is the clinical practice of the School of Dentistry.<\/p>\n
After earning her D.D.S. from the UT Health Science Center San Antonio, Dr. Van\u2019s clinical experience included four years of active duty in the U.S. Air Force, where she developed her expertise in patient management.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause my patients were mostly health care personnel from Wilford Hall Medical Center, I learned a great deal about patient management because I could ask them questions about how they would handle different patient situations,\u201d Dr. Van said. \u201cIt was a tremendous learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Van also learned how to make treatment decisions under certain constraints, such as time. \u201cWith the military, you have a readiness mission\u2014service members have to be ready at all times. So you may end up treating a patient in one appointment with a large filling instead of doing a crown or a casting that would involve multiple appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n
After leaving the military, she directed the dental clinic at the Daughters of Charity Services of San Antonio, which sparked an interest in special-needs patient care. The experience also helped her gain acceptance to a fellowship in geriatric dentistry and into the clinic itself, where she has been able to do her favorite work\u2014teaching dental students\u00a0how to look past the patient\u2019s teeth to see the bigger picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re a young person graduating from dental school, unless you\u2019re around older people, you really don\u2019t know how to treat them. They read it in textbooks and hear about it in lecture, but it doesn\u2019t really mean much until they see it,\u201d she said. \u201cMy hope is to try to enlighten them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Van\u2019s students have been not only enlightened but inspired, having named her the school\u2019s Professor of the Year three times over the past five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe takes a very personal approach to treating geriatric patients,\u201d said Justin Felkner, a fourth-year dental student. \u201cShe makes sure we understand their conditions, the medications they\u2019re on, and how those affect the treatment that we are doing\u2014always keeping in mind what\u2019s best for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dental school alumna Tam Van, D.D.S., teaches students the importance of delivering compassionate care to elderly patients with complex health issues or cognitive limitations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"magazine":[23],"issue-year":[19],"featured-story":[],"class_list":["post-860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patient-care","magazine-salute","issue-year-19"],"yoast_head":"\n