USC dental student seeks to bridge gap between dentistry and LGBTQ patients

By | January 11, 2016

Los Angeles Schweitzer Fellow and University of Southern California dental student Jonathan Nguyen hopes to empower LGBTQ people to take control of their health care and help better educate dentists when caring for patients in the LGBTQ community.

Mr. Nguyen

Mr. Nguyen

According to the Albert Scheweitzer Fellowship blog, Mr. Nguyen is concerned that within the health care profession, dental professionals are among the least culturally competent when it comes to caring for patients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.

Mr. Nguyen’s fellowship project is to conduct LGBTQ cultural sensitivity seminars for dental students, faculty and pre-health undergraduate students. He also plans to provide oral health screenings and educational workshops on oral health, safe sex and STIs to LGBTQ young adults.

In addition, Mr. Nguyen launched the Society of Queers and Allies in Dentisty (SQuAD), the first LGBTQ dental student organization at USC’s Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, according to the blog.

“Growing up as a gay male, I used to be ashamed and scared of the stigma of HIV attached to the LGBTQ community,” he told the blog. “I want to help empower my fellow community members to face their health issues with confidence and be able to combat social stigmas with pride.”

To read more about Mr. Nguyen and his fellowship project, click here.

One thought on “USC dental student seeks to bridge gap between dentistry and LGBTQ patients

  1. Dr. Ahmad Momani

    Quite a smile despite missing a tooth temporarily. I cant add anything more in this great post except to say we were happy with our experience. Good luck on your next visit.
    Theres plenty of room at Dome Rock and the festive mood has began.

    Reply

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