Art and Music Meet Dentistry

Bringing Music into Dentistry

In 2019, I started providing music therapy to patients in the RI Hospital Cancer Center. Through guzheng, I witnessed the power of music as a language to connect us, heal us, bring out memories, and soothe our fears.

I wanted to bring music therapy into the dental field, especially since dental fear affects approximately 36% of the population and is a barrier to care for millions of Americans. In 2022, I implemented music therapy at the Dental Associates of Rhode Island, an office I had been working at as a Practice Coordinator/Dental Assistant.

RI Hospital Healing Through Harmony Volunteer

Every Thursday, at the beginning and end of the hour, I played the guzheng 古筝, the 21-stringed Chinese harp, as patients entered the waiting rooms.

I set up an office Spotify account and wireless bluetooth noise-canceling headphones for each operating room.

In dental school, I joined the Columbia University Irving Medical Center Musician's Guild and have similarly witnessed music as a powerful medium for communication and human connection across our CUIMC campus. Through participation in Music at the Bedside and Musical Mondays, performances at white coat ceremonies, and even an opportunity to play at the United Nations Headquarters, I have collaborated with musicians from the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons School of Nursing and other health professions programs to bring live music into healthcare settings and community spaces.

Bringing Art Into Dentistry

Art & Dentistry

Art in Patient Education

One day while dental assisting, I met a young girl who needed a root canal. Since she couldn’t understand English, I drew out the root canal procedure for her. I broke down the procedure into 4 simple steps, using arrows, check marks or x-marks, and happy/sad faces to convey meaning.

This experience eventually let me to create my own animation, distilled down into a simple digestible form—all under 30 seconds.

After making this video, I also became inspired to create short educational infographics on other dental topics (cavities, plaque, gum disease, fillings, pregnancy) for patients and their families, trying to distill dental education into short bite-sized pieces of information. See "Infographics" for the whole repertoire!

Art In Dental Advocacy

Since starting dental school, I have used artwork as a channel to communicate and raise awareness about oral health. Having been to been to many lobby days, I bring my artwork to the legislator offices, as I find that having a visual communication helps bolster my points and leaves a lasting impact on the legislators I talk to -- they get to keep a copy too :)

Records of Our Oral Ecosystem

The Iceberg of Our Oral Health

My Human - A Story of Oral Health Inequity

Told from the perspective of a tooth

Art in Learning and Studying

Art has also been a channel for dissecting and learning new concepts, or fortifying my memory through repetition and practice. Art has helped me study anatomy, and review old histology slides to study for exams. At the end of each dental block, I also found ways to make art to connect us back to dentistry.

Mental Health Interprofessional Mural

Awarded ~$5000 grant by the President’s Office for the Columbia University Mental Health Initiative. My proposal, “Interactive Mental Health Mural Capturing Interprofessional Perspectives” is meant to capture different interpretations of mental health by interviewing and featuring the perspectives of healthcare professions across CUIMC Campus: medicine, nursing, nutrition, occupational therapy, pastoral care, physical therapy, public health, genetic counseling, and social work.