Editor's note: This story first appeared in the Spring 2025 Edition of the Dental Link Magazine. 

When Brian Dang (’24 DDS) walked across the stage during the College of Dentistry’s commencement ceremony last year, he gained more than a diploma. He joined a supportive community of Iowa dental graduates, known for their camaraderie and collaboration.

But before he graduated Dang gained insight into that community during his D4 year in the Department of Family Dentistry with adjunct professor Salvador “Buddy” Atienza (’94 DDS), who became a mentor to Dang as he finished dental school and entered the workforce as a Des Moines area dentist.

“Buddy was a great mentor at the college. It’s nice to see an adjunct faculty who’s been practicing for decades and the amount of education he has,” says Dang, “He shows his experience of, oh, this is how you maneuver it a little better and this is how you get this isolation a little better.”

Adjunct faculty members at the College of Dentistry take time out of their week to instruct at the college. For many adjunct faculty members, the tradeoff is leaving a day at their practice to educate their future peers in Iowa City.

“Adjunct faculty are great resources,” says Atienza, “We get to see the college and private practice, so we bring that perspective to the students’ learning. For adjuncts it keeps us well-rounded,” says Atienza, “Dentistry changes a lot. There’s advancements in dentistry that I would never get if I wasn’t an adjunct faculty and connected to the school as I am now.”

Adjunct faculty are crucial to the education of dental students as each dental student spends their final year taking all the components of dentistry and putting them together to perform comprehensive care. Adjunct faculty provide a different perspective to students that are rooted in their own real-world experiences.

“For the first three years you learn from the faculty and they are all very knowledgeable but the adjuncts have been in private practice and provide different feedback,” says Dang, “They might say ‘this is how you might see it in private practice’ or ‘this is something I’ve seen a couple of times’ I have definitely used some of those tricks (Buddy) taught me and it’s made me feel pretty comfortable as a dentist after graduating.”

Within the first eight months after graduating, Dang was thrown into a high-volume environment, seeing more 40 patients of his own plus hygiene. While he became more comfortable in some respects, he also realized this is not what he wanted to do long term.

“Within eight months I saw more than 1,000 patients, so I got pretty comfortable doing bread and butter dentistry doing extractions and root canals,” says Dang, “Buddy showed me ways to continue my education and re-emphasize the good practices I learned at Iowa.”

Atienza told Dang about Spear Education, a program where Dang could continue his dental education. Dang’s situation was relatively unique in that he was too busy in his practice rather than not busy enough. In addition to providing ways for him to continue his education, Atienza was also able to help provide avenues for Dang to find new opportunities in search for a better fit.

“He was busier than he ever wanted to be, and he felt that it was too much for him,” says Atienza, “He needed to get into a place where he can do a lot more quality dentistry, which fits his personality very well.”

Now in a new practice, Dang has found a better balance between continuing his dental education and serving his patients. He is now able to focus on providing high-quality dental care while also pursuing advanced training and professional development opportunities, which may not have been possible if not for his relationship with Atienza that started as a dental student.

 “Serving as an adjunct faculty member opens up a whole new aspect of dentistry,” says Atienza, “Not only does it keep you young because you are working with students, but I have the entire college at my hands to stay informed and be part of a great department.”

“Having a mentor like Buddy is great and at Iowa we all want to help,” says Dang, “Even after you leave the school you have people that want to help you and that is what is so great about Iowa.”