Spring 2008
Brandi Dupont
'07 Doctor of Dental Medicine
by Erin O'Donnell
Most of Brandi Dupont's patients have long been absent from the dentist's chair by the time she sees them at Health Access Washoe County, a community health center in Reno. Every day, they come with problems that private-practice dentists only see in textbooks: 18-year-olds who need full dentures after meth has destroyed their mouths; bone death in the jaw of a cancer patient.
She measures success by moments, like convincing a mother to stop putting her baby to bed with a bottle that will rot her teeth.
"Our teachers in pathology would bring up a slide and say, 'You'll probably never see this, but just in case...'" says Dupont, who graduated first in her class from UNLV's School of Dental Medicine in 2007. "Every day at this clinic, I'm thinking, This is something I was never supposed to see."
The clinic — HAWC for short — is one of the few U.S. community health centers offering both medical and dental care. Its three branches had 60,000 patient visits in 2005. Southern Nevada does not have a similar facility.
Dental care was added to its services in 1998 — about the same time Dupont went to work there as a grant writer. She had earned a bachelor's degree from UNR in 1995 and was prepping for medical school. But then one of the clinic's dentists planted a suggestion: What about dentistry?
"I'd never thought about it," Dupont says. "But I watched her do a lot of procedures and I thought, this is what I'd rather be doing. They work on a lot of kids, and I remember thinking I would find that very enjoyable."
Her choice meant moving away from her own school-age child and her husband, Mike, to attend school. For four years, the family made monthly flights between Reno and Las Vegas. "That was very difficult, and I feel like I missed out on some really key years," says Dupont, whose son is now 15. "But I knew that it would be a good thing in the long run."
Dr. Bernard Hurlbut, a UNLV professor, notes that it's uncommon for a student who graduates at the top of her class, like Dupont did, to choose a community practice rather than pursue additional studies in the more lucrative oral surgery and orthodontic programs. "She worked hard to graduate first in her class with the sole motivation of being the best possible dentist purely out of service to others," he says.
Dupont's dream is to go literally farther with service, reaching out to parts of rural Nevada where dental care is scarce. She also hopes to promote the integrated model of health care that is the conerstone of UNLV's School of Dental Medicine. Dentistry is gaining respect in the larger medical community, she says, now that dental problems are recognized as red flags for other conditions such as heart disease or diabetes.
Dupont, who once considered joining the Peace Corps, shrugs off burnout warnings from her private- practice classmates. "I don't see that happening. I love the population I'm working with now. I feel very blessed and fortunate to work where I work."
Brandi Dupont, the top dental school graduate of 2007, chose a low-uncome clinic over private practice.