Need takes North Las Vegas dentist to Cambodia, Vietnam

Dr. Paul Phan of North Las Vegas is drawn to volunteer work in countries that need his dental skills, such as the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam. That demand for his services also led him to Las Vegas, where he started his career.

After he graduated from the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry nearly 17 years ago, that state’s dental board recommended he practice in Las Vegas, which had a shortage of dentists. He began working at Gentle Dental Care in the southwest valley.

When the proprietor, Dr. Gregory Edwards, retired about six months into Phan’s tenure at Gentle Dental, he decided to take over. Although he was fresh out of school, Phan said he felt prepared for the task.

“The moment that I felt like I was ready to take over was when he asked me for help,” said Phan, now 44. “So it was like, OK, if my mentor is asking me for help, then I think I’m caught up.”

Phan renamed the dentist office Phantastic Dental Care, a play on words of his last name. He then remodeled the office, at 3625 S. Rainbow Blvd., Suite 103, and kept the same staff. A few years later, he opened a second location in the North Las Vegas.

Phan’s desire for a creative career led him to dentistry. His mother, who moved to the U.S. from Vietnam, wanted him to become a doctor, but he said dentistry was the “perfect combination of art and medicine.”

“I like medicine, but I like art more,” Phan said. “I like being creative. I like working with my hands, so dentistry was the perfect fit. I work with patients, and fixing teeth is like art.”

For the past eight years, Phan has been traveling overseas to provide dental services at health fairs in underdeveloped countries. He brings a staff of volunteers, medicine donated by a drug company and instruments.

Phan pays for any supplies they don’t have out of pocket and raises money so volunteers don’t have to pay for the trip. He visits countries where he has a contact to set up and promote the event. He said he hopes to visit Kenya and China soon.

Phan and his team attend health fairs — which are put on by locals — in the mountains, small villages or other remote areas where there are no dentists.

Phan said that in some countries he has visited, dental hygiene is nonexistent because of a lack of education and resources.

“There’s no hygiene over there,” he said. “There’s just rampant decay over there. They don’t know how to brush, really. If you give them a toothbrush, they don’t even know what it is.”

Phan brings toothbrushes and other hygiene products to give to patients. He said prevention is an important lesson he teaches patients — especially children.

“Over there it’s either extraction or nothing because they don’t have the money for fillings, so they just want to pull,” Phan said. “Prevention is key to saving teeth.”

Phan recalls a Vietnamese girl whose teeth were in such bad condition that she wanted him to remove them. But after he persuaded her to let him put in composite fillings, Phan said, she cried when she saw her teeth.

Services he often performs include fillings, fluoride varnishes, dental sealants and extractions.

Phan said he and his volunteers can see 150 to 200 patients per event, so he works quickly by creating an assembly line. He will work on about six patients at a time, numbing each — which takes 10 to 15 minutes — and then coming back once they are numbed.

His speed made some patients nervous when he was in the Philippines, he said.

“People were assuming that I was hurting the patients,” he said. But when a local dentist began using a hammer to remove a patient’s tooth, they quickly changed their minds, he said.

“I could see the patients just shift to me right away, and then after a few patients went through me and said that it didn’t hurt, all of the patients were coming to see me,” Phan said.

In addition to volunteering overseas, Phan visits California weekly to volunteer at Lestonnac Free Clinic in Orange, which provides free dental and medical services to low-income and uninsured residents. He said he doesn’t volunteer often in Las Vegas because it creates a conflict of interest for his patients, but if other organizations hold events, he will volunteer.

Eileen Choe, the dental manager at Lestonnac, said Phan helps more than he realizes.

“I think just the fact that he volunteers says volumes,” Choe said. “Dr. Phan will not only do dental service, but he explains to the volunteer dental assistant not only why they are doing something, but how they are doing something. He’s not just blessing the patients, he’s also blessing the students who want to go into dentistry.”

Phan was honored by the White House with the President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2014 for his service in California.

“I’m very fortunate I’m able to do this,” he said. “It makes me love my career and my profession a lot more. It’s worth it. The smile and the gratitude from them is priceless. That’s what I love most about volunteering.”

To reach View intern reporter Kailyn Brown, call 702-387-5233 or email kbrown@viewnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KailynHype.