#45 Dr. Joyce Kahng

On the podcast today, I interview Dr. Joyce Kahng, a dentist practicing in Costa Mesa, California. She teaches classes in dentistry at USC and also owns a private practice called Orange + Magnolia dentistry studio. We open up with how she got interested in dentistry, to be like her mom.    She didn’t really know what she wanted to do with dentistry until she completed school, she explains, like a lot of other people in medicine. She came to the General practice residency to talk to people about routine things (because she did not want to specialize) and focus on building relationships with people.    Building Relationships Through Social Media   This brought her to Instagram. Starting it as a tool to grow her business, she was able to more readily disperse knowledge about dentistry, like how to floss correctly.  She explains that it was more authentic to her to make sure that she was able to talk about the topics that would help people on their journey throughout dentistry. We talk about how memorable moments like patient cases impacted her decisions along the way to becoming a practicing dentist as well.    How Dentistry is Going to Change   Although business practices are changing, Dr. Kahng is optimistic for the future. She believes that she should have had more fun during school (who doesn’t?) but she is optimistic for her future as well. The insurance companies, while they charge more for “elective” procedures, have the ability to change through advocacy in the dental community.