In the Spotlight:
Dr. Tuncer went to dental school at the University of Hacettepe in Ankara, Turkey. After practicing in different locations for more than nine years, he attended Advanced Education in General Dentistry and Master of Public Health Program and received his AEGD certificate and MPH degree from the University of Rochester, Eastman Dental Center in Rochester, New York (USA). He also enrolled in General Practice Residency (GPR) Program and Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) fellowship at the same university. He is currently attending Pediatric Dentistry Program at University of Rochester, Eastman Dental Center. Aside from his clinical work, Dr. Tuncer previously started the Special Olympics Special Smiles® program in his native country, Turkey.
Dr. Tuncer, please describe your hometown.
"I was born in Zonguldak, a city in the Black Sea region in Turkey. Coal mining is the main industry. It is a small, cosmopolitan city that welcomes people from different parts of the country."
When and how did you get interested in treating people with intellectual disabilities?
"Well, there are several reasons why I am interested in the field of intellectual disabilities. In 1998 when I was in the United States, I stayed in a dorm in the middle of the Houston Medical Center. It was the first time I recognized people with disabilities. After returning from the United States, I started to do my MPH program at the University of Hacettepe. I conducted a small study where the subjects were people with disabilities. It was my first time working with this population. After I started the research, I wanted to get more information and training to treat this population. However, there was no training in my country. Then I decided to send e-mails to faculties at different universities to get training for people with intellectual disabilities. After sending several e-mails to different faculties in the United States, I got a response from Dr. Daniel Jolly from Ohio State University and he told me to attend the Special Care in Dentistry Congress in Chicago in 2000.
"I attended this congress with the great support of my fiancé, now my wife, Aysenur. Attending the meeting changed my life and my career in dentistry. Dr. Jolly introduced me to Dr. Santos, former faculty member at the University of Rochester's Eastman Dental Center, to talk about training programs in special care dentistry. At the same meeting, I met Carolyn Fetter from the Specialized Care Company. Carolyn introduced me to Dr. Steve Perlman (Global Clinical Advisor to the Special Smiles program) who is now my friend, mentor and colleague. It was the first time I heard of Special Smiles, but it was interesting. Steve offered me the chance to run Special Smiles in Turkey. It would be the first Special Smiles event in Turkey and I leaped at the chance to run the program. I believed it would be interesting and challenging for the volunteers and me.
"Before the event, I attended the Special Smiles train-the-trainer program with Steve and Dr. Mark Wagner (Vice President of Healthy Athletes at Special Olympics) at Cardiff, England. I stayed there 10 days. It was one of my best 10 days in my life and was full of experiences and challenges. During this training, I decided to specialize in special care dentistry and work with people with intellectual disabilities. I told Steve that I made the decision while I watched hundreds of Special Olympics athletes, their parents and friends during the Opening Ceremonies. From that day, I've been a big believer in both Special Olympics and the Special Smiles program."
It sounds like your wife is very supportive. Do you have any children?
"I've been happily married to my wife, Aysenur, since 2002. She is a sports physical therapist as well as a manual therapist and holds a M.S. and PhD degree. My wife was the greatest supporter of my decision to come to the United States to specialize in special care dentistry. She encourages me to continue to work with people with intellectual disabilities and I always appreciate her encouragement and help. We don't have any children. I think Aysenur and I could not find time to have children due to our education! "
What type of impact do you think Healthy Athletes has on people, both with and without intellectual disabilities?
"Healthy Athletes really inspired me to come to the United States and start my new career. I started the Special Smiles program in my country and now, my colleagues can continue that program. It is a great achievement and success. I believe Special Smiles will help athletes with intellectual disabilities as well as people without disabilities in terms of oral health to increase public awareness and access to dental care in my country. I always believe in the power of Special Olympics. "
What's your favorite part of the job?
"The hug, the sparkle in the eyes and the big smiles of my patients and my happiness and my peace inside."
OK, Dr. Tuncer. Give me your favorite Special Olympics story.
"My story is from our first Special Olympics Special Smiles program in Turkey. The story is really about my great volunteers. They were amazing during the Special Smiles screening. Special Olympics Turkey arranged a very big tent where we could screen athletes. However, the location of the tent was wrong. It was far from the athletic events and we didn't have good access to the athletes. Therefore, we had to move this huge heavy tent without taking it apart because we didn't have the four to five hours it took professional workers to assemble that tent. We decided to carry it with our 10 volunteers and moved that tent out at least 100 feet to the new location.
After the event, I organized an event just for the dental volunteers where they would have time to share their opinions and feelings. They all expressed that they had a great time and it was a great opportunity to work with people with intellectual disabilities. According to their reviews about their experiences, they were willing to treat patients with intellectual disabilities and would participate in future Special Smiles events no matter where and when! As one of them wrote, “Life was different afterwards.”
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