Dental hygienist David Van [Dip.D. Hyg./21, B.Sc.D.Hyg./24] takes pleasure in his weekly commute through the skies, travelling in small planes from Winnipeg to northern First Nations communities.
Van grew up wanting to be a military fighter pilot, until someone told him he couldn’t because he wore glasses. But he’s still chasing the dream of becoming an aviator and is only a few flight hours away from earning his pilot’s licence.
He imagines being able to fly himself and other health professionals from place to place, improving access to services in the north. “I would love that,” he says.
Van chose a health career because he wanted to help people. When he was growing up in Winnipeg’s North End, he says, a lot of his friends were Indigenous.
He saw how people who didn’t get the help they needed could fall through the cracks.
“I always wanted to ‘be the change.’ Now I get to make a difference in other people’s lives,” says Van, whose parents fled Vietnam during the war there in the 1970s.
Van, who earned his UM diploma in dental hygiene in 2021, is the team lead for the Keewatin Tribal Council’s Community Oral Health Services program. His team includes another dental hygienist and two dental aides.
The team provides oral health care and promotion to children aged seven and under in 11 First Nations communities, including Fox Lake Cree Nation, York Factory Cree Nation and Manto Sipi Cree Nation.
In addition to screening kids and referring them to community dentists or specialists, the team applies fluoride varnishes and cavity-arresting silver diamine fluoride to kids’ primary teeth and places temporary fillings.
When Van joined the program in 2022, he recalls, the oral health of many of the kids was poor and they were scared or skeptical of him. That’s all changed.
“They get excited now whenever they see me at their school. They’re like, ‘I brush my teeth now!’ Their oral health has improved, and I feel like there is a change. I just have to keep at it.”
Van enjoyed his educational experience at the School of Dental Hygiene so much that he wants to become a UM professor in the future.
While working in the north, he completed his bachelor of science in dental hygiene from UM.
His next educational step will be to apply to a master’s program in public health.
He is the current elected president of the Manitoba Dental Hygienists Association.
“I have a true passion for the profession and wanted to give back in a meaningful way,” he says.
“As president, my main focus has been to bring people together and advocate for dental hygienists and patients, especially in rural and remote communities.”
Van has blazed a trail as the first male president of the organization.
“I hope to encourage more people to look at dental hygiene as a rewarding and meaningful career,” he says.
When he’s faced with work-related challenges – from cancelled flights to water quality issues – Van says he echoes Kaleigh Warden [Dip.D.Hyg./09, BA/16], an instructor at the School of Dental Hygiene.
“She would always say, ‘Roll with the punches.’ To this day, I still use that phrase.”
BY MATTHEW KRUCHAK