CATEGORY 20 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST EVENTS Dr Tiffany Chen, periodontist and founder of The Cusp Collective, chats with Dr Lan Tran, President of the Australian Association of Laser Dentistry (AALD), about dentistry and more. TC: Lan, you travel around domestically and internationally, giving highly engaging dental laser talks. What is your favourite application of laser in dentistry? LT: It’s the healing properties, aka Photobiomodulation. This is a unique function to lasers and certain lasers only but is a powerful tool in my general practice. TC: It’s such a widely used tool in medicine, I find it absolutely fascinating, I’d like to learn more about its everything it can do in dentistry. Would you like to share some of your biggest wins in dentistry? LT: Achieving my Mastership in Laser Dentistry after a six year hiatus related to my personal life. Being in a position where I can help not only my patients, but also other dentists to help their patients by the education I provide. I was registered as a dentist in Kenya for a month which allowed me to attend dental clinics there and provide hands-on live patient demonstrations TC: What an inspiration! Do you have advice for dentists who want to become educators? LT: Make sure you are in a place where you are happy to give your time without it impacting on your own well-being. TC: What is your strategy for dealing with negativity or setbacks in dentistry? LT: I believe that everything can teach us something. So, I don’t like to take the view of a situation or person as being negative or a holding me back. The only person holding me back is me, if I take that view, I learn the lesson that is being presented to me and move on. TC: Mindset is such a powerful tool. Is there a project taking up all your attention right now? LT: Me – Growing as a person and trying to move beyond the “triggers” that I have allowed to impact me from my previous relationship. Without doing this I cannot be the best version of myself and have the resilience to move forward in both my professional and personal life. TC: I love that, it takes a certain level of selfawareness to recognise where and how we can improve ourselves to become the best version we want to be. How do you wind down from a busy work, family, and social life? LT: Having ADHD I have to be very consistent and compartmentalised in all I do. My social battery does often run low, and at this stage in my life I can recognise and voice that easily. Those around me understand that my routines keep me grounded and all have a role in me functioning optimally, so they respect my firm boundaries around these habits. The routines look like monthly self-care, daily exercise (good for ADHD) & keeping my circle of “my people” very tight. Being kind to myself and allowing myself to take time to do things I actually enjoy are very important, but I make sure I communicate my reasons to those around me, so they don’t feel like they are neglected. TC: So important to be honest with yourself about what you need! Thank you for sharing. u Hear Dr Tran speak at the Melbourne Conference – 26 July 2025 www.thecuspcollective.com.au This year’s Cusp Collective conference in Melbourne Dr Tiffany Chen Dr Lan Tran
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