Dr. Anika Lee
“My grandparents needed a lot of help in their day-to-day lives, so I felt like I could relate to the people I was providing care to and really saw the importance of it,” says Dr. Lee. “This experience also gave me a new perspective on what it means to deliver dental care to people in different stages of life.”
After graduation, Dr. Lee joined the UBC Geriatric Dentistry Program—a unique program that focuses on research, education and providing dental care to frail and older adults—and worked once a week at Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock, BC and Evergreen House Long Term Care Home in North Vancouver, BC.
“With geriatric dentistry, it’s less about the technical aspect of delivering treatment, and more about understanding the patient’s mental and physical capabilities,” says Dr. Lee. “Sometimes the best treatment for the tooth isn’t the best treatment for the patient. If someone in their end-of-life stage has a very small cavity that isn’t causing them pain, it doesn’t necessarily benefit the patient to treat it. This type of mindset shift is very important when working with elderly people—it’s really a different kind of problem solving.”
Today, Dr. Lee works alongside her brother, Janson Lee, DMD 2017, at Lee Family Dentistry, which was started by their father John Lee, DMD 1981. She sees a wide range of patients, many of whom are elderly, which gives Dr. Lee the opportunity to use the skills she first developed during her DMD community rotations.
“I’ve learned so much from working with seniors,” says Dr. Lee. “One of my favourite aspects of working with this population is the conversations—they have so much wisdom and many stories to share with me. I’m truly grateful for the community rotations I experienced during dental school, which played a big role in shaping the dentist I am today.”