Members in Action

Members in Action
Are you an ODA Member in Action?  Do you have a passion for improving public health? Do you want to advance the dental profession? Are you influencing policy on a local or state level?  We would love to share your story.  Please email Brett at bhamilton@oregondental.org. 

Dr. Rachel Meek: Breaking Barriers and Building Trust Between Native Dentists and Patients 

Member in Action

Growing up with both of her parents working in medicine, Dr. Rachel Meek said there’s no way she was going to follow in their footsteps. Today, as one of two dentists working for the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians, she concedes that she is doing exactly what she was always meant to do. 

While earning her undergraduate degree at Washington State University, Dr. Meek worked as an orthodontic assistant, learning about the inner workings of a dental office. That work, combined with her undergraduate thesis on sustainable ways to address iron deficiency and anemia, led her to volunteer for service trips where she received even more exposure to dentistry and the important role it played in a person’s overall health.  

“We would go to remote villages and check their iron levels, while working with dentists and predental students and Guatemalan dentists,” said Dr. Meek. “I fell in love with not only the impact that dentistry has on people but also how dentists did everything for a patient – they took a part of the body and focused on that and did everything around it.”