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This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare

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Podcast and the Becker Dental Podcast. I I

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am thrilled today to be joined by a

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really special guest. We're joined by doctor Koot

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Alkabeze.

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Doctor Alkabeze

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is the assistant dean of clinical affairs at

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the University of Maryland School of Dentistry.

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Brilliant to visit with her today. She's gonna

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tell us about what she does, her career,

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trend she's watching, and a lot more. Doctor

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Alcabazie,

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take a moment and introduce yourself and tell

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us a bit about the University of Maryland

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School of Dentistry.

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Good morning, and and thank you for having

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me, Scott. My name is Kuda Kabezi. I

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am a currently a faculty member at the

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University of Maryland School of Dentistry,

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and, my role is the assistant dean of

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clinical affairs at the school.

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I am internationally trained dentist and have spent

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most of my career in higher education within

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The United States as well as globally.

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I have been in the University of Maryland

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collectively for about twelve years.

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Four of those were spent in residency and

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graduate schoolwork,

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and then I re returned, back. Was recruited

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as a faculty member and spent the past

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eight years as a general dentistry residency program

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director.

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I'm also involved in global partnership programs at

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the school and serve as a director of

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global partnerships and educational initiatives in Rwanda.

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A little about UMB,

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which is a University of Maryland Baltimore. We

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are the only public,

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institution

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graduates

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most of the health care professionals. And it's

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really a privilege to work at the school

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of dentistry because,

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as you may and may not know, but

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the school of dentistry is the first dental

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school in the world, and it was established

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in 1840.

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Amazing. I did not know that it was

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the first dental school in the world. What

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does, like, I'm gonna ask you two questions,

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very unrelated. First, dental shortages in The US,

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what does that look like? What does it

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look like in terms of the number of

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dentists versus our population

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and and other specialties within dentistry?

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How does that look? And second, have you

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been to Rwanda as part of dentist as

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part of the the the partnership? And what

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is Rwanda like, and what is dentistry like

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in Rwanda?

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Shortages

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right now, especially after COVID, impact the dental

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hygienist. So there's a significant shortage in dental

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hygienist,

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within the community.

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And

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that really poses an an issue issue for

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a lot of the patients in,

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especially the rural areas because

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the dentist now are not only saddled,

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with, you know, doing the dental work, but

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also providing,

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significant preventative services for recall patients.

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Your second question, which is about Rwanda,

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I have been to Rwanda back in '22.

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I it was a short visit just to

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establish relationship as well as to execute the

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agreement that we have between the University of

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Maryland,

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and the University of Rwanda.

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We have a trip,

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coming up this fall. So in about a

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couple of months, where a team of faculty,

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that in including me, will be traveling to

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Rwanda.

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During this visit, we'll be delivering some patient

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care as well as, we'll be paired up

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with local dentist

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so that we assist them well, we exchange

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knowledge and expertise, but also assist them with

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delivery of care.

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Rwanda,

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if

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you know or don't know, but, back in

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the mid nineties,

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they had

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a very horrific genocide. And

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through that genocide, they have lost

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a lot of their, health care

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workforce.

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And so they had to reestablish,

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their workforce capacity.

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And,

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before

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2018,

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they did not have a dental school there.

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So one of my predecessors at the School

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of Dentistry

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helped the University of Rwanda establish,

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a dental school, and they graduated the first

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class in 2018.

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So the

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the workforce right now, the dental workforce is,

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the significant group is what they call dental

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therapist, and I believe their dentist to population

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ratio is about one to 92,000,

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if I'm not wrong, and that's probably old

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data. But they don't have a lot of

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dentists in Rwanda.

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So in Rwanda, one dentist per 92,000 people,

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real shortages and so forth.

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What trends are you watching in dentistry and

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dental education here? How does the AI

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impact dental education, and how how are people

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looking at that?

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Dentistry, the way we deliver dentistry and we

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teach dentistry is really influenced by,

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digital modalities.

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Digital dentistry enables

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the providers to be more, efficient and precise.

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So as an educator, we have to be

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very knowledgeable what's on the market and how

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do we incorporate it. As you know, a

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lot of these technologies,

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they die fast. You know, they require a

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lot of maintenance,

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but they are really what our students are

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excited about. And they it really it

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allows them to have the tools, to work

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in rural areas because with digital dentistry, you're

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able to deliver more,

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and, with a wider scope of practice.

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In terms of AI,

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you know, we have

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a department

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within the school that, handles a lot of

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the AI research. But AI,

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definitely, in education and treatment will allow us

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to enhance diagnosis of diseases such as dental

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decay, monitor bone loss, disease outcome, and progression,

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especially with, you know, gum disease.

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The other thing that we're watching as well

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in in terms of

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preclinical training,

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I'm just gonna take one step back. Our

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students spend the first couple years

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in labs where they're learning how to deliver

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dentistry on plastic teeth. And,

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with virtual and augmented reality,

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there is all these tools available now that,

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allows the students to really get a feel,

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of how how a natural tooth is gonna

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feel like and how the handpiece is gonna

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react to the natural tooth. So it really,

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develops their,

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fine motor skills,

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I'm gonna say, possibly a lot better than

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just working on plastic teeth.

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Fascinating. So I'm gonna take you back to

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to one second. So I just found the

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stat on dentist ratio here

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compared to Rwanda. So Rhonda Rhonda has one

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dentist per 90,000 people. In The United States,

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to give people comparison, there's one dentist per

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1,700

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people. So that's really is a huge remarkable

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difference. That that really is fascinating. So in

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terms of

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education, I'm gonna ask you two more questions,

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doctor Alcabasi.

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The the first is,

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what do you find most interesting about dentistry

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in the profession today? What do you find

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what sort of, like, not necessarily keeps you

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up at night, but just stimulates your brain.

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You're like, oh my god. This is interesting

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what we're doing here. In in some way

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about education and teaching and developing, you

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know, programs,

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what's most interesting and exciting to you? From

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dental school to residency,

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there was digital dentistry. It was new at

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its infancy, but it was very, very primitive.

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The leap it took from, I'm gonna say,

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the past eight to ten years is amazing.

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So it's it's really exciting

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to

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work with the machines and see what they're

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capable of and

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allowing us to work very differently. The patients

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are fascinated. They're more comfortable with digital modalities.

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The the current generation of of dentists and

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training, you know, they're excited by technology. They

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love their phones, their computers, anything that works

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fast. So I I find digital dentistry really

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fascinating. I think it's gonna open

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up a lot of doors, you know, for

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us in terms of clinical practice.

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That's fantastic. And in terms of, like, developing

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programs,

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clinical programs, serving as dean,

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assistant dean, what's the most interesting part of

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that?

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First of all, working with students is amazing

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because I love the relationship part. You know,

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establish your relationship, getting to know people.

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You always feel

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young when you work in a university because

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you see what's the latest and greatest constantly.

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Let me just you know, this is just

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being in higher ed is just amazing.

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But,

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in terms of developing programs, you know, you're

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in higher edge, you're constantly being challenged. It's

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very different to, you know, being in a

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in a in a practice environment.

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Knowing how the current generations work and how

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they enjoy learning and and and just the

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changes that you make in the learning environment

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and seeing the outcome of the changes that

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you make is very gratifying.

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Learning and getting people to work together,

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building a unified vision,

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it

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it is just it's exciting. It it excites

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me. It keeps me going. It, and it

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just, you know, just infuses,

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a lot of,

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you know, passion in me.

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So, doctor Alcovec, let me ask you this

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question. And I'll and I'll give you sort

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of different variants of the question.

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What advice do you give to an emerging

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dentist today, an emerging leader today, someone who's

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going to dental school? Is it worth it?

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Is it still a good decision?

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Should they be excited about their career? What

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advice do you give to somebody who's going

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into medical school today or dental school today,

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and and going to dentistry? And what advice

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to emerging later?

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Working in health care is amazing. It is

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a significant

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change in lifestyle because

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you have to be there for your patients

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and your community all the time.

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And it is a huge responsibility, but

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on the same token, it's great because people

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look up to you. You become inspirational to

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a lot of people, and,

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you develop a lot of good relationships.

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But dental school, medical school, you know, any

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health care school, professional school is is a

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lot of work. And

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I would say looking back at my journey,

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first thing I would say to myself is

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to allow yourself grace

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to learn,

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make mistakes,

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be open up to new opportunities,

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invest in yourself,

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you know, learn, be open minded, be a

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lifelong student,

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be humble,

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and,

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you know, always explore new opportunities to get

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out of your comfort zone.

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Because, really, getting out of the comfort zone

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is what's gonna get you to learn.

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I have enjoyed and I will continue to

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enjoy being a dentist.

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I think dentistry opened up a lot of

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opportunities,

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in my life that I otherwise, it wouldn't

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they wouldn't have presented themselves to me.

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Amazing. And and and let me ask you

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a question. I'll ask you another question. And

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I I hate to keep you longer, but

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such an interesting career.

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Here. The difference in practicing, I think you

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also practiced and taught in in I I

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take it in England in at Leeds University.

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And the difference in practicing in The United

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Kingdom versus here,

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you also

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did some of your education or were you

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taught in Kuwait. So you've had this incredible

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international career. Just give us two seconds on

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the differences

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practicing or teaching in Kuwait versus practicing here

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versus England.

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I mean, you gave us this great contrast,

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Rwanda versus here.

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Give us some no. One more sense of

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international flavor between

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Kuwait, England here,

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if that's okay.

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Yes. Of course. I,

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so I I grew up in Kuwait, and

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I left Kuwait to pursue dentistry in England.

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And then after that, I moved back to

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Kuwait, and I, started early in my career

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in Kuwait.

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I practiced, and I taught at the university

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and,

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completed my postgrad in The United States, and

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then I, of course, returned to work here.

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Dentistry is different, slightly different. Your approach working

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with patients is different.

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Dentistry in England as well as in Kuwait

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is is socialized.

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The approach to dentistry, especially general dentistry, is

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a little different between

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Kuwait

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versus

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westernized countries, such as England and, you know,

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The United States.

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So,

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when you deliver dentistry in in certain parts

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of the world, there's it's more focused on

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what they call episodic care, which is whenever

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the patient needs,

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you know, senses pain or they feel or

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they perceive that they have a a problem,

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they would go to the dentist,

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and they get treated and they go. But

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the approach,

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you know, in westernized countries is usually

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you have the patient establishes down home, and

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then you provide them long term care. And

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sometimes their family is part of the practice,

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so you provide comprehensive care.

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The other, I would say, significant difference between,

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working here versus, and this is just in

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general, westernized countries as well, is patients.

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Patient,

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you know, patients have autonomy, and they're usually

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part of the decision process.

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In certain parts of the world such as

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Kuwait, patients usually,

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look up to you to make the decision

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for them.

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And,

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they you know, the majority of the population

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expects,

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they they're not really that engaged, and their,

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dental awareness is not as high or what

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they call the dental IQ as high as

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the population

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in The United States or The United Kingdom.

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So

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the dentistry

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in Europe

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tends to be a little more on the

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conservative side,

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and the dentistry in The United States tends

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to be more towards the mechanical side.

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And having trained in, you know, two different

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continents,

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my approach

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combines

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and utilizes

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either approach depending on the patient and the

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case that I have.

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And

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being in Kuwait,

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I

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was able to do that because most of,

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I'm gonna say, the Gulf Nations and The

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Middle East, a lot of the dentists and

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the health care providers have received, you know,

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postgraduate training internationally. So they bring that blend

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together in that country.

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So I would say, you know, there are

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differences in the approach, but, also, there are

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differences in how you deliver the dentistry

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in various parts of the world. The the

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the fascinating. Doctor Alcubazy, what a pleasure to

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visit you with you. You. What an amazing

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career. What an amazing leader. Thank you so

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much for joining us today on the special

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episode of the Beckers Health Care Podcast, the

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Beckers Dental Podcast.

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Thank you very, very much for joining us.

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Thank you for having me, Scott.