Humans of TUSDM: Hannah Tran (D24)
In the blur of what dental school can feel like, “Humans of TUSDM" is a project created by Yenna Chu (D27) to remind us of our shared humanity and the special stories that make us who we are. The project hopes for members of the Tufts Dental community to find comfort in knowing they are not alone on this journey and to help build new connections through storytelling. Humans of TUSDM is supported by TUSDM and Tisch College.
“When you go through dental school, you don’t realize how much you’re changing as a person. It’s easy to just focus on yourself and have a one-way path to accomplish your goal and get to a certain spot, but I think it’s actually about the friends who really help you get through it. When you look back at your friendships and the people who helped you get to that point, it’s like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that through all those trials and challenges that we went through, we were still able to pick and support each other.
That’s probably what I’m most proud of—being able to maintain and grow with those friendships because it’s really difficult to do that.
The beauty of the diversity of Tufts is that you can meet so many different people and they all teach you something different. You will never know that unless you branch out and build those bonds with different people. It’s easy to gravitate towards people you feel familiar with, but it’s nice to branch out too.
Doing that helped me take advantage of the actual diversity of the school. There’s a quote that I read recently, “Be yourself so the people who are looking for you can find you.” That’s just something that I’ve tried to do.
Even though I’m saying this now, I wish I could tell my first and second-year self to be more confident. I wish I hadn’t been so hard on myself.
First-year me, I’m pretty proud of her. She tried her best, but she wasn’t a super confident person. Second-year me, I don’t think was confident either.
It’s funny because people will meet me now, and be like that’s what you thought of yourself? Now, I’m pretty sure of who I am. I started using Talk One2One in my second year. Something I learned is that when you are not confident, it seeps into other aspects of your life. I would say to seek help earlier and have someone to talk to and find guidance when you need it. It was a really great resource from Tufts and I wish I had done it earlier! It helped me piece my life together.
For my third-year self, I’d say: be more gracious. One of my PCs asked me, ‘What was the most challenging thing that you faced in clinic?’ and I think it’s being yourself. When you give to others, it really takes from you. I’m kind of introverted, so when I’m in the room with someone, I give them my all. You might feel like you need to change or alter yourself to the patient. To some degree, it’s true, but you don’t want to alter yourself so much that the person providing care is no longer the person you truly are.
In the beginning, I felt like I was trying to fit the mold of what professionalism and being a good doctor meant. It wasn’t until I started tapping into my true traits that I became more efficient, built a stronger rapport with my patients, and truly trusted the care I was giving because I trusted myself. I grew to trust the knowledge and skills I had gained, and that gave me confidence in the care I provided.
I think it was difficult when I first started at TUSDM because I was so hard on myself, especially when you feel the need to constantly adjust to the person in front of you. You have to know when to be firm, when to give grace, and when to take control of the situation. It’s about finding what feels right for you and knowing how to provide care while being a good dentist. I focus on being myself and giving the best care I can. I believe patients can sense that, and it’s what has worked for me. The right patients will appreciate the type of care I provide and how I deliver it.
I’m at a point where I can trust myself enough to follow through with my career path and complete my residency here at Tufts in Endodontics. I know that I am someone who works really hard to be good at what I’m doing. The first thing I want to do after graduating is take my parents to a nice dinner, and I also want to eventually send them on a nice vacation. Even though I have been independent this whole time, they’ve helped me a lot. The phone calls and the check-ins are irreplaceable, so I want to find a way to thank them. It’s been a long journey, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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