How Variety in Dentistry and Human Connection Keep Dr. Kao Motivated

When Chung-Lei Kao, DMD, MAGD, earned her AGD Mastership award in June 2021 at AGD’s annual Convocation Ceremony, it did not mark the end of her educational journey as a general dentist. As the residency site director of a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Syracuse, New York, Kao emphasizes a thirst for knowledge in her work as equally as excellent clinical skills and patient care. Below, she describes how she keeps her enthusiasm for dentistry active and how her career choices have shaped her. 

As a residency site director, I read a few dozen personal essays each year about why applicants want to be dentists. I wish I had a more creative answer like some of my applicants. I grew up in a dental environment. Before he retired, my father spent his career as an Army dentist in Taiwan and later worked for a VA hospital in Taiwan as a dentist, dental chief and, later, deputy chief of staff. I grew up thinking the smell of eugenol was his cologne. That made me very comfortable being around dentistry. I wish I could say I am simply following his footsteps, but, being his daughter, I also saw how tired he always was, how much his neck and back hurt, and how he nearly lost his hearing to the sound of high-speed instruments. So, as a child, I thought about many different career paths: psychologist, architect, meteorologist. There were a few common themes: science, working with my hands and the human connection. 

My parents brought my siblings and me to the United States when I was 15. We settled down in the beautiful foothills of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah. One of our next-door neighbors was a general dentist, Dr. Richard Smart. In my junior year of high school, the guidance counselor asked me what I wanted to do in life. After all the aptitude tests and career fairs, nothing beat spending an afternoon with Dr. Smart in his dental office among his staff. I realized dentistry was the profession that combined everything I wanted in a career. 

During my years at Case Western Reserve University, I received solid clinical training and exposure. Each time I was exposed to a new specialty, I was fascinated. I wanted to learn more and get better at all of it. I considered periodontics, endodontics and prosthodontics. I have many close friends working in various specialties, and I have the utmost respect for their efforts. For me, ultimately, working as a general dentist offers me an opportunity to change the scenery from time to time. Being exposed to different fields of dentistry is what stimulates my mind and allows me to remain humble and curious. Learning a new technique or using a new material still gives me the butterflies. Instead of interpreting those butterflies as insecurities, as I did when I first completed dental school or residency, I have come to enjoy them and thrive on that thrill. It reminds me how much more there is to learn, and I hope I still feel this way for years to come. 

After dental school graduation, I completed a year of general practice residency at Louis Stokes VA Medical Center in Cleveland. Working with veterans was a new experience. They are usually much more medically complex than the average patient, and some of their battle scars are on the inside. Because I was younger when I finished dental school and all I knew at the time was school, I had very limited real-life experience. I felt I lacked an ability to truly connect with my patients and that I couldn’t convince them that I understood where they were coming from. So, after residency, I tried to put myself in all kinds of creative career positions in a very short amount of time. I worked as an associate in a single-owner private practice. I worked for corporate dental chains. I worked in mobile dentistry units on military bases providing care in a modified RV or on a cot with portable equipment. I worked in correctional facilities and in a nursing home/long-term care facility. 

In a span of four years, I traveled to many places, as far away as American Samoa. I have met many people. I went from a young dentist whose comfort zone was very limited to being able to think on my feet and troubleshoot to get the job done, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time learning. During that time, I also pursued AGD Fellowship. I recognized that, in order to get my skills to the next level, I needed to remain in one position long enough to see my cases through and to follow up after a case is finished. I returned to the VA system and have been working for Syracuse VA Medical Center for the past seven years. 

Many of my patients have taught me more than they know, not just about dentistry, but about life. Right before a particularly difficult surgery, a patient who I have treated for seven years now, noticed I was nervous. He said, “Doc, breathe! You will do great!” When I saw him for his follow-up a week later, he told me he was impressed by how well the surgery went and asked if I wanted him to write a letter to my medical center director to tell him how well I did. Without pause, I said, “It only matters to me that you think that, that you had faith in me, and that it went well for you.” How my supervisor thinks of me never crossed my mind. 

That is what motivates me every day: that faith and trust our patients have in us. When they are in pain, when they need something fixed, and when their emotions are high, they sit in front of us and put their dental care in our hands. When they first meet us, they give us that trust blindly. That human connection is what drew me to dentistry and is what motivates me to be the best I can possibly be every day to deserve that trust.