Interview with Dr. Tracey Nguyen

In the interview, Dr. Tracey Nguyen shares about her experiences early on with dentistry and how she became interested in it as a profession. 

As Tracey shares, it wasn't until college that she developed an interest in dentistry. After exploring classes related to several different career paths, Tracey started working as a dental assistant while still in college, and that experience really shaped her professional life. 

After completing dental school, Dr. Nguyen worked with the practice where she'd been a dental assistant. She loved the practice and the mentorship that she received, but when it came time to grow professionally, she branched out to own her own practice.

Dr. Nguyen shares what the first couple of years were like for her in practice and how the death of her father and her resulting grief served as a catalyst for her to take action to advance in her career. 

When becoming a partner at the practice she joined after dental school was not an option, Tracey decided to seek out an opportunity to own her own practice. Once making that decision, an opportunity arose and things moved quickly. 

Dr. Nguyen shares about how seeing Dr. Rouse speak really opened up her eyes to the role of airway in comprehensive dentistry.

When talking about how she became interested in sleep dentistry, Tracey shares, "It was really it was more about understanding the impact of my dentistry. And the biggest impact is with children. And so when I came back after Jeff's lecture, I [started to see it]. It's so funny, it's like, once you see it, you start to realize all the cases that you missed. And so as I saw more cases, and as my patient started coming in with these issues, I'm thinking, 'How did I miss that?' Well, I wasn't really looking." 

Dr. Nguyen talks about how understanding airway impacts her practice. 

 She shares, "I think that what I'm seeing now, and what I hope to see in the future, is that dentists really recognize the impact of what we do, that the impact of restorative goes beyond the mouth.

What Jeff will say is, it can either impact the airway in a positive way, a negative way, or a neutral way, but you have to understand the three differences. Then you can make that decision on what you want to do. If you don't understand the three differences and something comes back then you should evaluate even further. Was it really your dentistry that failed? Or did you just not diagnose a risk?  

"I think that's where airway dentistry is about. I don't do anything different than what I do. From a restorative standpoint, I just look at it differently.

"Am I constricting the envelope? Is this constricted? Why is there a constricted envelope? Why is the patient breaking their teeth?

"So the whole question of the why is really important. I focus a lot on that medical history. You know, the apnea, the heart issues now for women, the depression, anxiety, you know, snoring... There are so many medical conditions that have some correlation to airway.

"Now, I'm not saying dentistry is going to fix everything. But I sure want to understand it enough that I don't make it worse."

Dr. Nguyen also talks in depth about how she discusses topics like airway with her patients. Listen in to hear more of her thoughts about how she approaches that topic.

When Dennis asks Tracey what dentists who are looking to deepen their understanding of airway should do, she gives some suggestions. 

Dr. Nguyen shares that a good first step is to learn what airway dentistry is. She recommends starting by learning from Dr. Jeff Rouse: "he doesn't overcomplicate it, he makes it very simple for the dentist, he hones it into dentistry."

Tracey shares that once dentists get that foundation, you can decide how far you want to go with airway. She mentions that Dr. Rebecca Bockow has hands-on orthodontic courses. (To listen to or watch Dr. Harlieb's Sharecast episode with Dr. Bockow, click here.)

Tracey has ASAP Pathways, which is a pediatric online program. Programs like Kois and Spear are introducing more airway components into their courses. 

Dr. Nguyen shares, "I feel that dentists, just like with our patients, they're going to come to you when they're ready. And I think that's the best thing.

"When I look at myself and my growth, it's like, I took a different journey when I had self realization that I didn't know something, or when I questioned what I was doing.

"And when you start questioning what you are doing, that's a good thing.

"That's where the growth is."