08/31/2026
My dental journey didn't start in the US. It started in Vietnam.
I studied dentistry from 2005 to 2011. Graduated. Started practicing. And somewhere along the way I made a decision that would change everything — I wanted to come to the US.
But it was not as simple as packing a bag and showing up.
International dentists cannot simply move to the US and start practicing. There is a whole process. Board exams. Applications. More school. So for five years I worked as a dentist in Vietnam while preparing for that process — studying for exams in a second language for a system I had never trained in.
I moved to the US in 2016.
And then the real challenges began.
English was one of the hardest things I have ever had to navigate — not just learning the language but learning to communicate with confidence. In a clinical setting. With patients who were nervous. With professors and classmates who seemed so articulate and so sure of themselves.
And that brings me to the other challenge — the one I did not talk about for a long time.
I always felt like I did not know enough. Like everyone around me was smarter. More prepared. More confident. I would sit in a room full of classmates and feel like they all had access to something I did not.
That feeling stayed with me longer than I want to admit.
But I kept going. Because the dream was bigger than the insecurity.
And today I own Avalon Family Dentistry. A practice I am proud of. A team I love. Patients who feel like family.
But I want to be clear about something —
My journey is not unique. My challenges are not the biggest. My story is one of thousands of people who left everything familiar to start over somewhere new. Who worked twice as hard just to have a seat at the table.
Every single one of us has a story worth telling. A dream worth mentioning. A journey worth sharing.
Whatever yours looks like right now — in the middle of the hard part, in the uncertainty, in the starting over —
Keep going. Your story is not finished yet. 🤍🦷"
