Bobby Chagger in front of dental equipment

A community connection

The dean’s advisory board helps the dental community work more closely with the Faculty

By Diane Peters

Dentistry isn’t just a dentist and a patient in a chair: it’s a community of passionate, committed individuals who work for the greater good of society. That was the thinking behind an important initiative developed a little more than a year ago, as dean Dan Haas launched a dean’s advisory board for the Faculty of Dentistry. The goal was to get input from a range of dentistry community members — most of them alumni — to help shape the Faculty and its future plans.

“One of the ideas of the dean’s advisory board is to see how we can identify things that show to alumni and to others how the faculty is moving ahead. The sense of its humanity, its reach,” says professor Chris McCulloch 7T6.

He and the 10 other members of the board agree on this pivotal point: the Faculty needs to find better ways to convey to the community the value of its mission of education, research and clinical care. The advisory board members can help with that. As ambassadors and cheerleaders for the Faculty, the board can play a role in shining a light on the Faculty’s many strengths across all of its missions.

Facility renewal
Members of the advisory board have been galvanizing around building renewal, which is one of the most pressing issues facing the Faculty. For years, many of the clinic spaces at the Edward Street building have been in need of upgrades. Now, with recent guidelines affecting the open concept clinics, which is the norm in dental schools, change is urgent. 

“For future generations of dentists, we need to make sure we have the facilities that can meet their expectations for dentistry in the 21st century,” says Lynn Tomkins 8T1, an Instructor at the Faculty, past president of the Ontario Dental Association and current vice president of the Canadian Dental Association.
 
That also necessitates a larger investment in technology, so the Faculty can keep up with the rise of digital dentistry. “The students need to become familiar with digital dentistry at the undergraduate level. So when they graduate and go into an office as an associate, they’re not saying, ‘I don’t know how to do this,’” says Bobby Chagger 9T6, principal dentist and owner of Chagger Dental. 

Changing the culture
“I think we need to bring awareness to the dental community that the Faculty does need support, and it could be financial,” says Carolyn PoonWoo 8T5. “We don’t just rely on big bequests and industry. If every individual finds a way to give $1,000 to the faculty, it’ll add up over time.”

McCulloch notes that other faculties at UofT have a strong culture of giving back, and the Faculty needs to find the keys to foster this mindset. He frequently advocates for more philanthropy in dentistry and has helped organize gifts personally. 

He’s done that by speaking to people about the innovative research going on at the Faculty and explaining to them the kind of funding — for equipment, people and lab space — needed for this work. But he also speaks about dentistry as an empathetic profession that fills an essential healthcare need, and that the Faculty is on the cutting edge of this aspect of care. “There’s a real push on to explore the best ways to teach dental students and how best to connect to patients,” he says.

Ways forward
The board will be looking for ways to raise funds as well as awareness. “The Faculty really needs to be able to access support from the wider community, the alumni, and businesses,” says Tomkins.

None of these ambitious goals will be easy to achieve. Tomkins says the board is focused on collaborative dialogue to produce creative answers. “Part of the approach of this group is that I don’t think any one person is going to come and say, ‘This is what I think you should do,’” she says.  

She hopes her own experience in organized dentistry can help, as it has brought her connections among groups such as other faculties of dentistry and dental organizations across the country. Other members offer viewpoints regarding research, business and more. 

Why they give back
The dean’s advisory board so far has only met twice, most recently in early November. It’s not a huge time commitment but has made these members look to their own motivations for getting involved.

“It really impressed me that the dean would reach out to the dental community and ask people to collaborate to influence the future of the school,” says PoonWoo. “That’s what motived me to say yes.”

“I have pride in my alma mater. I want to see it succeed and I know my colleagues want to see it succeed,” says Chagger. He thinks anyone with a dental degree, who’s been able to succeed at dentistry, should be interested in giving back too. “This has to be something that everyone whose studied at U of T Dentistry should be interested in. Their education has provided them everything they have in life.” 

 

Photo: Bobby Chagger in front of dental equipment (Katia Taylor)