Stellar standards
By Lisa Murphy
For those reaching for the stars in dentistry, the three 2025 Alumni of Influence recipients offer sky-high goals. In dentistry, they are technically precise, impressively innovative and also care deeply for their patients. Their volunteer resumés in the profession and beyond are lengthy. These honourees show us all how dental professionals can give, give some more and never stop striving.
Tina Meisami 9T6, 0T1 Dip OMFS
Oral and maxillofacial surgeon Tina Meisami isn’t content to just treat patients – she’s passionate about transforming lives.
“Sharing a tremendously challenging journey with patients and seeing the happy results at the end always brings tears to my eyes,” says Meisami. She helps improve sleep and reduce cardio-vascular risks for patients with obstructive sleep apnea as director of Dental Sleep Medicine at University Health Network’s Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, where she recently helped create a surgical fellowship in sleep medicine.
At her private practice, she offers the likes of dental implants and wisdom teeth removal, and corrects facial trauma and dentofacial deformities; she does similar work in her role as active staff surgeon at North York General Hospital. Meisami often sees how functional and reconstructive treatment improves patients’ lives.
Transformation for women is always a priority. She and a group of 50 volunteers have been treating survivors of gender-based violence living in shelters through the Dr. Borna Meisami Commemorative Foundation — named in memory of her beloved brother — since 2010. They provide free, trauma-informed dental, rehabilitation and sleep apnea care, which has added up to an astounding $1.8 million worth of treatments over 15 years.
“What drives me is witnessing the profound impact of oral health care on the lives of survivors, helping them gain confidence, feel worthy and continue their life journey to be the best version of themselves,” says Meisami.
Similarly, in her academic roles at U of T and McMaster University, she is ardent about mentorship, especially of women. “Women make up less than 10 per cent of all oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Canada,” she says. “The best way I know how to increase women in surgery is to provide mentorship and support to women entering the profession.”
She takes on a lot, so when stress builds as she manages her schedule as a surgeon, researcher, mentor, philanthropist, business owner and parent, Meisami rocks out on her drum set. She doesn’t miss a beat in expressing gratitude for the teams that she works with, for her own mentors and for her teachers at U of T Dentistry. (Years ago, she could have studied elsewhere, turning down a Columbia University Faculty of Dentistry scholarship in favour of staying in Toronto.)
“Earn a living doing what you are passionate about,” says Meisami. “Have an impact and make a difference.”
Bruce Pynn 9T0, 9T5 Dip OMFS
Removing a fishing knife from behind a patient’s eye with no loss of vision or facial function — it’s all in a day’s work for Bruce Pynn. As chief of Dentistry/Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), Pynn regularly performs emergency facial surgery on people who have been in grisly accidents involving moose, cars, chainsaws and snowmobiles, as well as brutal fights, as the hospital handles trauma patients from the Manitoba border to Sault Ste. Marie.
Pynn runs a private practice and is an assistant professor and researcher at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, plus he’s been the oral surgery editor of Oral Health Journal for the last 20 years. He was a member of the Ontario Dental Association’s (ODA) Hospital Services Committee and now serves on the Indigenous Oral Health Committee.
“I’ve been working on several Indigenous dental projects,” says Pynn. “Trying to improve access to care and dental education has been ongoing.”
Despite the demands on his time, Pynn will drive to a patient’s house for a quick consult or post-op check. “Most people only live 10 to 15 minutes away here, so it’s just easier than making them come to the office for a two-minute check-in,” he says. “When you live in a small community, you’ve got to be the guy people can rely on.”
Indeed, Pynn is the guy who has built a meaningful career in a community where the needs are palpable. He’s authored more than 100 publications and pioneered advancements in surgery. He has advocated to get TBRHSC’s first portable, handheld dental X-ray unit, a panorex X-ray machine and put digital X-rays in the operating room, plus he’s developing an app to improve operating-room efficiency.
Pynn has served as the chair of medical volunteers for the 2024 Ontario Winter Games, teaches and supervises dental students weekly at Confederation College and flies into Toronto about once a month to supervise U of T Dentistry oral surgery students. Via generous donations, he has established three student bursary programs, including two at U of T.
Around town, Pynn looks like an ordinary guy with a friendly grin. Behind the scenes, he keeps a vast personal collection of dental antiques, and remains modest about his considerable contributions to care and innovation in oral surgery in northwestern Ontario, his adopted home. “I came to Thunder Bay from Toronto 30 years ago,” says Pynn. “I’m super glad that I stayed.”
Harry Höediono 9T0
“The greatest thing you can give is your time,” says Harry Höediono. It’s advice his father repeated often — and words he has often looked to over his 35-year career. It’s why this dental practitioner, frequent guest university lecturer and former chair of the board of directors at Grand River Hospital says his proudest career moment was becoming president of the Ontario Dental Association (ODA) in 2011.
“To me, becoming president is the epitome of volunteerism in the association,” he says. While in that role, he reorganized the association’s governance structure. He began volunteering for the ODA while a student, and still serves on committees. (The organization gave him the Barnabas Day Distinguished Service Award for his service.)
Höediono runs a practice in Kitchener with his wife and former classmate, Helen de Man 9T0, where he specializes in occlusal reconstruction. He is a fellow of the International College of Dentists, the Academy of Dentistry International, the American College of Dentists and the Pierre Fauchard Academy.
The son of immigrants, Höediono was determined to study at the University of Toronto. “When you’re a newcomer, you’re drawn to history,” he says. “U of T is very prestigious, and it didn’t disappoint.” (He did well, earning the Harold Keith Box Prize – Silver Medal at graduation.) He remains in touch with many of his professors, encourages other alumni to give back and has lectured over the past 25 years at the Faculty, along with Western University, the University of Sydney in Australia and others.
In his personal life, he puts his time into ambitious pursuits, too. The father of three is an avid rock climber who has established new climbs plus advocated for a safe and ecologically aware approach to the sport — for this he has earned several environmental accolades.
Recently, he and de Man took over a disused apple farm and have begun restoring it, causing him to see parallels between supporting students and farming. “These beautiful, ancient trees require special care, special pruning to revitalize them. It’s like nurturing students. You’ve got to peel away that educational complex — their fears, their anxieties, their exams, their graduation — to find that student in there and try to bring that person back to an awareness of their talents.”
Höediono hopes the dentistry students he comes across experience the same joy and fulfillment that he has over his stellar working and volunteer career. “I want them to have success and to value their education.”
Photos by Stef & Ethan and Kirvan Photography