Women in Dentistry lead the way What started as a society to bring female dentists together has grown into an important and influential West Australian society. New President, Dr Amanda Phoon Nguyen, shares the society’s story and its future plans. Women in Dentistry was established in 2014 by prosthodontist Dr Janice Kan, with the aim of promoting mentorship and collegiality amongst female dental practitioners in WA, via regular social and educational events. In recent years, Women in Dentistry has becoming increasingly focused on its Healing Smiles program, which provides pro bono dental work to female victims of domestic and family violence. With funding of Healing Smiles now managed by ADAWA’s Uniting Smiles charity, the program will be able to help more women than ever before. New Women in Dentistry President, Dr Amanda Phoon Nguyen, looks forward to helping more people in the community through Healing Smiles. She also plans on organising more of the events that were such a big part of Women in Dentistry’s original purpose.
PLANS FOR 2022 “We want to bring back a lot of the social events,” Amanda says. “Personally, that is what I always enjoyed. The current committee includes Vice President Nandika Manchanda, Secretary Lalima Tiwari, Past President Jacinta Vu as well as Serene Ong, Suanne Lam and Shanash Bishnulall.
Females are far more likely to undersell themselves and that is something I would very much like to change. “We hope to do what the past committees did very well and what people tell us they want – creating a safe social space, and organising informative events with speakers beyond dentistry, such as at Women in Dentistry’s End of Year AGM and breakfast where we had a paediatrician come to speak to us about COVID FAQs. “It’s important to note that although the society is called Women in Dentistry and obviously the focus is on female dentists, we’re not anti-men at all, and men are very welcome to come to our events,” she adds. “It’s all about building community.”
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EDITION 1 | 2022 WESTERN ARTICULATOR
