Page 38 - Dentistry Magazine 2021

38 DENTISTRY 2021
CLASS NOTES
Get updates on what your fellow alumni have been up to. If you have an update to share, please submit it at z.umn.edu/SODclassnotes.
David Domaas, DDS ’82, passed the required examinations to become a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Implantology/Implant Dentistry.
Ronald Sakaguchi, DDS, PhD, MBA, Prosthodontics ’84,
became dean of the Oregon Health and Science University School of Dentistry, effective December 2021. He had served as interim dean since October 2020 and was also recently named an American College of Dentists fellow.
Michael Bender, DDS ’86, received a Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition Award from the Academy of General Dentistry.
Jenny Oh, DDS ’14, MS, completed a prosthodontics residency training in the US Army in 2020 and became a board certified prosthodontist.
Nicole Blatchford, BSDH ’21, is a Licensed Dental Hygienist at Bay Creek Dental in Plymouth. She has been certified in Biolase therapy, Oral ID light screenings and orthodontic procedures, and is grateful for the preparation she received for her career from the School.
Expanding the landscape of dental therapy
Claire Roesler has not been out of school long, but she’s already breaking barriers and changing the way we see oral health care.
Roesler, who graduated in 2020 with a Master of Dental Therapy degree, was born and raised in the midwest.
A fifth generation Gopher, she told her faculty that, ideally, her first position out of school would be within
an hour of the Twin Cities.
“I was content thinking I’d
be in Minnesota for the fore- seeable future,” she said.
But then, she was offered a position in Maine, and every- thing changed. She went from planning for a position in the state where she’d trained to embarking on a journey across the country to become the first practicing dental therapist in the state.
Though Maine passed legislation in 2014 approving the use of dental therapists, licensing requirements weren’t solidified until 2020. When Roesler graduated and moved East, she became the face of her profession and its number-one advocate in Maine.
“It’s an exciting and humbling opportunity,” Roesler reflected. “It helps to know that so many people in Minnesota have my back. I’m so grateful that I’m not alone out here.”
For Roesler, advocating for her profession is something she’d be doing either way—she’s passionate about the work she does and wants the world to know. “I grew up in a small town, so I saw first-hand how important access to care is,” she explained. “Dental therapy is a unique and progressive field that really focuses on access.”
Roesler has a big role to fill, as the only dental therapist in her state. But she is clear on what the role means. “I take a lot of pride in dental therapy,” she said. “We train with dental and dental hygiene students, and we’re safe providers in the world of dentistry.”
Dreams of hockey led to a career in dentistry
When Justin McHugh, DDS ’01, was growing up, he knew one thing: he was going to be a Gopher someday.
An athletic kid who excelled in hockey, baseball and football, he had his eyes set on the University of Minnesota. “I grew up loving the maroon and gold,” he said. Then, a scholarship to play hockey sealed the deal. Though he didn’t know it yet, the sport would lead him not only to a career in profes- sional hockey, but his future as a dentist, too.
As someone who’d watched the Gophers his whole life, playing “on the same sheet of ice that I grew up watching my hockey idols” was “incredible,” McHugh recalled. He loved playing hockey at the University of Minnesota—so much that he went on to play minor professional hockey for two years after he graduated.
But as an undergraduate, he was unsure what he wanted to study. Studying a combination of business and pre-medicine, he tried to find his passion for a few years.
Then, his junior year, he and a few friends were having a good time at the rink, not wearing full protection. “And sure enough, a hockey stick came up and hit me in the face...knocking out my three front teeth,” McHugh recalled.