White Rock Lake Weekly July 2011

Lake Highlands dentist shares her smile with world

When was the last time you ever really thought about owning a toothbrush?

Most of us take it for granted that we can purchase dental hygiene products and know how and why we should use them. But that is not the case in Central Vietnam. That is why Dr. Dane Hoang goes there or to a nearby country every year.

As a successful Lake Highlands pediatric dentist, Hoang knew of Operation Smile (OS), a medical charity that provides surgical care in poor countries to children with facial deformities like cleft lip and cleft palate. When she learned that she could use her skills in Vietnam, her country of origin, she was motivated.

“I went on my first trip in March 2008 and just fell in love with it. It was the first time I’d been back since I left when I was eight,” said the graduate of Bryan Adams, Texas A&M and Baylor College of Dentistry.

Unlike her practice here, where she can get to know her patients, Hoang serves about 2,000 kids in just a few days when she’s abroad.

“It is hard work! You have to get to as many as you can because the need is so great,” she said.

Eliminating pain from infected teeth becomes the main job.

“They open their mouths and it’s just black infection. So I have to do a lot of extractions and give them antibiotics,” she said.

Next to pulling teeth, her other objectives are oral hygiene education, prevention and providing them with supplies.

After her first visit with Operation Smile, Hoang and her sister stayed in Vietnam another three weeks. Friends and colleagues gave them $8,000 to give to the needy.

“I couldn’t believe it! People were so generous – and they trusted me!” she exclaimed.

When she and her sister came home, they wanted to “make it legit” by creating a non-profit they named the Le Hoang Foundation.

Established in Nov. 2008, the Foundation now sends teams to Asia yearly as well as contributing $15-20,000 annually to Operation Smile. She coordinates fundraisers and uses some of the profits from her practice. Hoang divides her time overseas between dentistry with OS and serving the needs of Vietnamese children through her foundation. At her own expense, she took videographer Andrew Danna along for the trip.

“I love traveling with her,” he said. “She is so very generous, thoughtful and good-hearted. And it really challenged me to see these kids who had absolutely nothing.”

She is very conscientious about spending. She works with a team she hand picked to research which orphanages and schools to assist and how best to meet the many needs. Those might include clothing, shoes, food, school supplies and even computers that they gave this past year, “because if they can’t improve their education, they can’t get out of their poverty,” she said.

Her mandate: everything has to be for children, and she “accounts for every penny.” In fact, she would rather receive monetary donations rather than actual goods.

“Besides, if you buy a shirt at Walmart to send over, where is it made? Vietnam!” she laughed.

Philanthropy is a mindset modeled by her parents. They were prosperous jewelry makers who fled their country with their three children on a refugee boat in 1979 to escape the upheaval engulfing their country. She was nine when her family arrived in Houston to stay with her aunt. Hoang did not know any English.

They moved to Dallas the following year. Her parents continue their jewelry business, Kim Ngoc Jewelry, in Garland, and her sister now makes high-end jewelry (ledragondor.com) that is sought after in such swanky places as Beverly Hills, Calif.

“My parents insisted we work hard to make a good life for ourselves. At first, they were skeptical of my going back to Vietnam because of their experience. But now they see what I can do with my training and education and they are supportive,” she explained.

Hoang wishes more of her Vietnamese American peers did the same.

“We tend to forget where we came from. What I do is not about politics or religion. It’s about helping the children,” she said.

Hoang built a practice, Children’s Dental Care, which employs four other doctors and a staff of a dozen. She has an office in Richardson and is about to relocate her Lake Highlands office to a brand new, multi-purpose facility at 8900 Forest Lane. She has also been voted one of D Magazine’s best dentists in 2005, 2007 and 2010, in addition to receiving several professional honors.

“I don’t want to be just a dentist. I want to keep educating myself and others,” she said. So she has included a conference center on the second floor with state of the art technology.

But connecting with her patients and helping others is still the main thrust of this smart, feisty professional.

“I love my patients! I’m like the cool aunt that gets to talk with them about their grades and life… and remind them to brush!” she laughed.

“I don’t know how she does all she does (for others) and still manage her practice,” mused her friend and mentor, Jon Ousley, DDS, MSD. “It’s amazing. When she is your friend, she’s your friend for life and her word is her bond.”

She remains driven yet grateful.

“I can’t believe little me – an immigrant – can go back and give something back to my country.”