Dr. Elizabeth Tomczyk Helps Train New Dentists, Advocates for Future of Dentistry

As a new generation of dentists graduate from dental school, many are finding that they prefer a career that takes them outside of the traditional private practice model that has been the norm for decades. Dr. Elizabeth Tomczyk is one of those younger dentists blazing a new and unique path for her career in dentistry.

 “I’ve never been interested in the business side of dentistry, so owning my own private practice never appealed to me,” said Dr. Tomczyk, whose first job after her hospital dentistry residency in Chicago was with Smilekeepers, serving low-income patients through Gentle Dental. 

 While Gentle Dental isn’t a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), many of the patients served through Smilekeepers tended to be on the Oregon Health Plan or low-income, a population Dr. Tomczyk says she enjoyed serving because it reminded her of the patients they treated when she was in dental school at OHSU. Both the patients served, and the collaborative environment appealed to her as she was looking into new opportunities after moving home to Oregon in 2018.  

 “I wanted to be somewhere where I would have other dentists to bounce ideas off of and to talk about our work and our patients,” said Dr. Tomczyk. “During residency, we would constantly talk about how our fellow recent dental school graduates are already out practicing on their own. That can be scary prospect for many right out of dental school. Going into an office where there were other dentists to talk to made a huge difference to me, and as I progressed, they would hire new dentists and I would get to mentor them.”

 That experience mentoring younger dentists prepared Dr. Tomczyk for her newest role as an Assistant Professor of General Practice Residency at OHSU’s School of Dentistry, where she also serves as the site director for OHSU’s dental clinic.

 “As the site director of the clinic, I make sure that everything runs smoothly and help train our residents,” said Dr. Tomczyk. “We go through health histories, help screen patients, and I also take patients through the OR at the hospital clinic who have special needs or very sick patients who need general anesthesia for their dental treatment.”

 While most of the hands-on dentistry at OHSU’s clinic is done by the residents, the experience has challenged Dr. Tomczyk’s own knowledge with medically and behaviorally complex patients, as well as her experience teaching the next generation of dentists.

 “I really enjoy the teaching,” said Dr. Tomczyk. “It’s so fun to see them get excited about learning new things and seeing the potential of what their careers could look like. I’m not that far out of school but I still feel old compared to them!”

 Dr. Tomczyk also says her experience at the OHSU clinic has taught her a lot in the year and a half since she started her new role because things are constantly changing in the medical world, and the position allows her to work much more on the medical side of healthcare than she would in a traditional clinic. 

 While her work at OHSU looks different than that at Gentle Dental, Dr. Tomczyk has worked her entire career with primarily underserved populations, so it makes sense that she volunteers in her spare time as a Board Member for the Dental Foundation of Oregon (DFO).

 “At Gentle Dental, one day a week I was on an outreach bus in Sweet Home where they didn’t have clinical space,” said Dr. Tomczyk. “We saw Oregon Health Plan (OHP) patients on the bus one day a week, so it’s fun to work with the DFO and oversee their work with the Tooth Taxi.”

 Through the DFO, Dr. Tomczyk helps the Tooth Taxi with fundraising and recommending new venues or populations to serve.

 In addition to her work the DFO, Dr. Tomczyk is on the ODA’s Regulatory Advisory Committee (RAC) and is a graduate of ODA’s Leadership Academy.

 “After I moved back, I knew I wanted a community around me, and the ODA is the easiest way to find that dental community here in Oregon,” said Dr. Tomczyk, who is also very involved with the ODA’s advocacy work and recently testified in Salem in support of a bill that would ban flavored tobacco products.

 “I was involved in ASDA, so I did do a little bit of dental advocacy as a student, but I really feel like dentistry is changing,” said Dr. Tomczyk. “It’s so much less about small business issues and so much more related to public health and insurance, and I think it’s really great that so many of my classmates from dental school are involved and are giving that input from younger and newer dentists into the future of dentistry.”

 Dr. Tomczyk truly believes that being involved in ODA is the greatest way for dentists to make a significant change in the industry and for their patients.

 “If you don’t voice your concerns to someone who can actually make a difference, nothing is ever going to happen,” said Dr. Tomczyk. “Plus, it feels good to feel like I’m doing something to help my patients on a statewide level.”

 While she deeply values the advocacy work of the ODA, Dr. Tomczyk wants other dentists, particularly recent graduates, to know that even if they’re not interested in the advocacy side of the ODA, it’s a great community and makes Oregon’s dental community seem much smaller. 

 “If recent graduates weren’t involved with ASDA, they might feel a little disconnected from the dental community at large and from the ODA,” said Dr. Tomczyk. “I tell them the best way to do that is to get involved, and your voice will be heard, and you can get involved with whatever committee interests you. Through the ODA, you can make a difference and feel supported.”