In honor ofWomen in Medicine Month,PACE Center9月，在休斯敦牙科院校的妇女发出了电话，参加了问答系列。了解有关副教授Margo Y. Melchor，RDH，EDD，社区宣传总监的更多信息；临床助理教授黛布拉·斯图尔特（Debra G.和DDS的Sarah N. Arafat，二年级儿科牙科居民。

Margo Y. Melchor, RDH, EdD

What made you choose to pursue a career in dentistry?

“I chose a career in dental hygiene because of my first dental hygiene experience as a patient at The University of Texas Dental Branch when I was young girl. During that time, my parents did not have dental insurance, so the Dental Branch was a great option for my mother to provide preventive dental care for me. The dental hygiene students were wonderful in explaining the procedure and providing oral hygiene instructions that I wanted to do what they were doing when I grew up. This impression lasted throughout my formative years. I always think it would be great if there was an opportunity to locate my student providers so I could tell them of the impact they left upon me!”

是什么吸引了您的专业？

“牙齿卫生是在牙科中发挥重要作用的职业。牙科卫生学家不仅是提供者，而且是教育者。此外，他们与患者建立的关系非常有意义，因为他们通常比牙医更频繁地看到牙科卫生学家的再生约会。”

What would you say is the biggest accomplishment of your career?

“I am fortunate to say I have several accomplishments in my career. The role at UTHealth School of Dentistry as the director of community outreach reminds me of how I have come full circle in my life. I started as a patient at The University of Texas Dental Branch, later became a dental hygiene student, was the first dental hygienist in the new Advanced Education in General Dentistry Program, became a dental hygiene faculty member, and now assist underserved, uninsured individuals with obtaining dental care via our community service learning rotations, mobile dental van program, and special outreach events.

“In my leadership career, I was a founding member of the Houston Hispanic Dental Association and a few years later held the position of president of the national Hispanic Dental Association.

“As for locally, I was recognized by Comcast in 2020 with theHispanic Hero Award, an award that goes to community leaders for service.

“Lastly, I am very proud of the appointment by Gov. Greg Abbott to serve as a Texas State Board of Dental Examiner, and this year was重新任命第二学期六年。”

What’s the best part about what you do every day?

“一天最好的部分是,它从来都不是ame, and I love every aspect of my roles. From teaching, coordinating projects for special outreach activities such as Give Vets A Smile and Give Kids A Smile®, seeking and identifying offsite community partnerships for service learning sites for our students or other projects, and assisting with obtaining funding for community outreach endeavors such as financial assistance for special populations including survivors of domestic violence, veterans, and children via grants, endowments, identified donors, etc. When I hear how grateful these patients are for care provided via the mobile dental van program, School of Dentistry clinics, and special events, this truly indicates a ‘teamwork’ approach to assisting with eliminating oral health disparities.”

Who are some of your mentors?

“Internally at the School of Dentistry, Dr. Phil Pierpont has been an instrumental mentor for nearly 20 years. As the Hispanic Dental Association faculty advisor, he became a great support system for me in this role when he served as the associate dean of student affairs and alumni affairs. From there, it evolved to seeking his opinion and guidance career path, educational pursuits (MEd and EdD), and leadership aspirations. Now, I have the pleasure of having him as not only my mentor and friend but as my co-advisor of the HSDA! In addition, Mrs. Nina Bay-Infante, past dental hygiene program director, was an excellent mentor within my role in dental hygiene education. Her guidance, leadership skills, compassion, availability, encouragement and supportive of pursuing advanced education, and/or leadership opportunities helped frame my career path.

“Outside of the School of Dentistry, I sought mentorship from two hygienists that served in education and leadership. I became introduced to Mrs. Kathy Alvarez when she was the HDA president — my aspirations in leadership began when I witnessed her in this role and the fact that she had also been a American Dental Hygienists Association president — an excellent opportunity to seek guidance to model her leadership skills and professionalism. At the beginning of my teaching career at the School of Dentistry, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Ann Espolarich at a school meeting. I admired the fact that she was a clinician, educator, and leader. At the time, I was working in private practice and part-time as a clinical assistant professor. From that day, she has been nothing but encouraging and supportive of me in my endeavors in academia and leadership.

“借助这些人的支持，指导和友谊，我今天就在这里，因为他们的身份，将永远感激！最好的部分是，直到今天，我一直与他们保持联系！”

What are some examples of how you mentor now?

“From Dr. Pierpont’s mentorship, I saw the value in recognizing and assisting dental and dental students or residents’ talents and abilities by submitting them for awards and providing letters of recommendations for residency programs, leadership roles, or other academic pursuits. Therefore, I made it a point to make if given the opportunity to assist anyone who reached out to me, I would certainly do so! Just recently, I was awarded the Dean’s Excellence in Mentoring (link). This unexpected recognition was due to two dental hygiene alums who joined the dental hygiene faculty. One of them, reached out to me about five years ago when she was thinking about a career in academia and asked my advice/guidance which began a mentorship relationship. I’m proud to say she is now a full-time dental hygiene faculty member and on her way to pursuing a doctoral degree.”

What does the industry need to do to continue improving the workplace for women?

“我唯一的改进建议是促进和支持高级教育。”

您会给想要成为牙医或牙科卫生师的年轻女孩什么建议？

“Pursue that initial goal regardless of the obstacles or time it takes to achieve it!”

Debra G. Stewart, DDS

What made you choose to pursue a career in dentistry?

“It all started when I was three and ended up losing a front tooth from a fall and had to wear a retainer with a front tooth. I was very interested in what the dentist was doing, asked a lot of questions, and then asked for a RED tooth. It took a while and a lot of convincing but the dentist finally talked me out of the red tooth. He put something red where my tooth would be, and I decided that did not look good, so I settled for a white tooth. I was very proud of my retainer and never broke it. This sparked my interest in teeth and dentistry, and this interest carried on to where my parents worked. My parents worked at the Detention Home in Austin, and back in those days, I went to work with my mother. In those days, there was no CPS, so the neglected children were taken to the Detention Home until they could work out where they would go. I always helped these children brush their teeth and found out that many of these neglected children did not even have a toothbrush at home and did not know what to do with one. I spent many hours and helped a lot of children learn the importance of taking care of their teeth. Even at this young age, I had empathy and compassion for these children and wanted to help them have good teeth. My mom said she should have known then that I would be a dentist.”

是什么吸引了您的专业？

“我想做一般牙科，以便能够在我的实践中做所有事情。我从牙科协助中学到了，患者喜欢尽可能地留在办公室，而不必继续去专家。有一个时间点，他们确实需要去看专家，但是我想在办公室尽可能多地做，除非有必要，否则不必将它们寄出。您绝对必须知道自己的局限性。我曾经是整个高中，大学和牙科学校的牙科助理，并且喜欢做所有不同的程序。我喜欢与孩子一起工作，并希望能够治疗孩子并仍然对待所有其他年龄。我总是花更多的时间听我的病人，并确切地找出他们在寻找的东西以及原因。我的练习是面向家庭的，我喜欢对待孩子，并通过口腔保健从右脚开始。我也喜欢所有其他手术，所有不同的患者，这给了我广泛的牙科领域和各种治疗方法。我觉得这对我来说是一个很好的组合，我喜欢它！”

What would you say is the biggest accomplishment of your career?

“我的职业生涯有几个成就。

“Having been president of both the Greater Houston Dental Society and the Houston Academy of General Dentistry. I was also a vice president on the Texas Dental Association Board of Directors. These positions were a great honor and gave me a lot of knowledge, met a lot of people, and developed some lifelong friendships. This was in a time when very few women were on the dental boards of associations, so we paved the way for others.

“随之而来的是，在美国，加拿大，巴巴多斯和墨西哥的许多牙科会议上担任全国议长是一种荣幸。我真的很喜欢教学和进一步的知识，这些牙医，牙科助手和接待员从事这一出色的牙科专业。

“And now it is a great privilege for me to be the clinical coordinator of the Mobile Dental Van Program; for not only do I get to educate our dental students, but at the same time help the patients in Orange, Texas, and Jasper, Texas. What a great and unique opportunity.”

What’s the best part about what you do every day?

“I love to help people and give them back their smile or get them out of pain. I live my dream every day by changing smiles and changing lives. I always enjoyed the children and starting them out on the right foot with taking care of their mouths and showing them that dentistry can be fun and the importance of keeping their mouths healthy. For those children and adults that came in and were scared, I worked with them to gain their confidence and show them that dentistry is not as scary as they thought. We would work through whatever was creating the issue and they took steps with me to learn to trust again. I wanted them to feel comfortable about coming to the dentist and have a positive experience. All of this carries over with the patients on the Mobile Dental Van.

“It is a wonderful opportunity for me to be the faculty on the Mobile Dental Van, and I absolutely love working with the dental students and taking care of the patients in East Texas. Not only do we help the patients, but we also educate our dental students about community service and public health, and they get to see what the real world of dentistry is really like.

“学生们学到了很多东西，可以去看病人，并做他们在牙科学校没有做的治疗。他们看到了许多复杂的病史，并学会了治疗这些患者。学生们不仅会在牙科学校回来时，而且一旦毕业后就可以在牙科学校中使用很多知识和一生的经验。

“至于社区，他们可以获得牙科护理，并学习如何照顾牙齿和口腔以及接受牙科治疗的重要性。

“It is a tremendous experience for our dental students, and they tell me how much they have learned from the rotation and how much it meant to them to have the great opportunity to do treatment on the underserved patients in these communities.

“我有一个伟大的感觉,满足感knowing that I am serving a dual purpose by helping the patients in these communities and at the same time educating our dental students. What a unique opportunity!”

Who are some of your mentors?

“Dr. Jerry Long, Dr. Frank Eggleston, Dr. Steve Schwartz, Dr. Maxine Feinberg, and Dr. Kathleen Roth.”

What are some examples of how you mentor now?

“A lot depends on who you are mentoring; students, other faculty members, an outside dentist, etc. but there are basics to use. Sometimes they just want someone there for support and encouragement, and others may actually want you to help them with their goals, promotions, papers, etc. This is important to know what the mentee is looking for. I always want to help the person and be there for them.

“首先，我想建立和建立关系。我喜欢坐下来交谈，找出我们有什么共同点以及他们在导师中寻找的是什么以及如何提供帮助。我喜欢总是澄清期望和角色，以便每个人都知道会发生什么。然后，我们将制定一个计划和目标，因此我们知道我们的去向。这有助于制定我们需要采取的步骤才能实现目标，或者他们只是希望导师作为朋友，在需要时给他们一些支持和鼓励。有时，他们只需要问您问题或经营您的问题即可查看它们是否在正确的轨道上。我总是在那里提供支持和鼓励，并检查他们的进步，看看他们是否有任何疑问，或者他们可能需要帮助以实现目标。我喜欢定期开会以查看进度或只是坐下来谈话。在这里，我们可能会去喝点东西喝或出去吃饭。指导永远不会停止，并且会发展一些良好的关系和友谊。”

What does the industry need to do to continue improving the workplace for women?

“Everyone always needs to be treated equal. More leadership positions and opportunity. Flexibility in when, where, and how they work. Professional development seminars. Luncheons now and then for camaraderie. Seminars for women on other things not just dentistry. Massage chairs to get massages for everyone.”

您会给想要成为牙医或牙科卫生师的年轻女孩什么建议？

“It is a wonderful profession. You will make lasting friendships and relationships. You will be helping people and giving them a great smile! It is one of those professions that will allow you to have a family and still be able to work. You need to work hard at your studies and get good grades, be involved in other activities, volunteer at a dental office when you are old enough to learn more, and find a dentist to be a mentor. If you are doing a science project, do something about the mouth or teeth or some of the new things in dentistry.

“You may want to consider learning Spanish for this could help you a lot in your practice and communicating with your patients.

“You will work with your hands, have a keen eye for details, do some problem solving, and educate your patients.

“Art classes or any arts and crafts things like knitting, sewing, origami, sculpting, etc. will be great help with some hand skills for dentistry use a lot of artistic ability in what we do.

“一旦上高中和大学，您还将想了解牙科学校的要求以及您需要参加的课程和活动才能进入牙科学校。外围beplay尽早应用，有好的推荐信，并写一些精彩的论文，以表明您的热情以及为什么要成为牙医。

“There were not very many women in dental school or dentistry in my day, and I feel we paved the way for women in dentistry today. There were very few women back then, so it was not easy to find a woman dentist to be your mentor, but today we are the mentors for those dental students and dentists who have graduated after us.”

Sarah N. Arafat, DDS

What made you choose to pursue a career in dentistry?

“我知道我想成为医疗保健，并成为帮助需要帮助的人的直接提供商。牙科对我来说是最好的。作为一名医学女性，我可以在不损害家庭生活的情况下同时追求我的专业和个人激情。”

是什么吸引了您的专业？

“I love dentistry and knew I loved working with children. It was perfect fit. I am so happy and honored to be part of the Advanced Education in Pediatric Dentistry Program.”

What would you say is the biggest accomplishment of your career?

“Pursuing this highly sought-after specialty while also being a new mom. It’s been a very trying time, but it’s also been my biggest accomplishment to date.”

What’s the best part about what you do every day?

“看到孩子们并使用行为指导技巧来改变他们对'大型恐怖医生办公室的看法。'在这里，我们在这里玩游戏，演唱歌曲，看电视，甚至拥有奖品和贴纸！我们每天都有乐趣。”

Who are some of your mentors?

“我在Uthealth牙科学校中发现的所有导师。一些最有才华的女性传授的经历真是令人难以置信。雪莉·帕特尔（Shelly Patel）博士多年来一直是我的指导之光，不仅是为了职业生活，而且是个人的。我很幸运能拥有她的生活。她只是通过成为她来教我很多。”

What are some examples of how you mentor now?

“我试图成为所有要求提供指导的年轻专业人士的导师。我经常让他们知道我也试图弄清楚事情，但是我们总是可以一起解决问题！我谈到了自己的经历，有助于我到达自己的位置以及如何在平衡家庭生活的同时追求专业激情的原因。”

What does the industry need to do to continue improving the workplace for women?

“It needs to be more inclusive. I feel as though there are gaps in making women feel safe in her working professional environment. For example, mental health days are needed, especially for all the women that wear so many hats (mother, wife, professional, etc.). A day or even a couple hours to herself during the week would help her be a better version of herself, to refresh, regain, and recharge.”

您会给想要成为牙医或牙科卫生师的年轻女孩什么建议？

“与女性牙医和卫生学家交谈。了解他们的观点 - 什么帮助他们到达了自己的位置，如何追求受人尊敬的领域以及对自己的职业的感觉。信息越多，越好。”