At VCU School of Dentistry, students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) and Dental Hygiene (DH) programs receive hands-on education as integral team members in a fast-paced dental practice. The transition from the classroom to the clinic carries important responsibilities and a commitment to the health and well-being of their patients. Each year, second-year D.D.S. and third-year DH students symbolically celebrate their entry into the profession in a White Coat Ceremony. 

This year’s White Coat Ceremony took place in Richmond’s beautiful Altria Theater, but it wasn’t the only event of the day. Coinciding with the White Coat Ceremony was the annual Mirmelstein Dental Ethics Lecture as well as a Legacy Luncheon celebrating multiple generations connected to the school. 

Mirmelstein Dental Ethics Lecture

“Cultivating ethical dental and dental hygiene practitioners is one of our highest aims and simultaneously also one of our most challenging. It is our collective professional responsibility to ensure that each new class and generation of dentists and dental hygienists understands the high standards to which we adhere,” said Carlos Smith, D.D.S., M.Div., director of diversity, equity and inclusion and the Ethics Curriculum at VCU School of Dentistry, who has oversight in planning the yearly event. “The Mirmelstein Dental Ethics Lecture allows us a unique opportunity to annually come together as a School of Dentistry community to refocus and continue honing our moral center and ethical compass.” 

This was the 34th year of the Annual Mirmelstein Dental Ethics Lecture, which featured Gerald Winslow, Ph.D., research professor of religion and founding director of the Institute for Health Policy and Leadership at Loma Linda University. Winslow’s presentation was titled, “The Heroes We Need: The Role of Exemplars in Ethical Formation.” It discussed different ethical systems and associated virtues and principles through historical examples of individuals who upheld the highest ethical standards even in times where they were not valued by the society in which they lived.

“Dr. Winslow’s focus on ethical and moral exemplars, the role models we’ve fashioned ourselves after, was a beautiful reminder of our altruistic pursuits and a continued charge to each one of us to model ethical behaviors,” said Smith.

It’s no coincidence that the annual ethics lecture falls on the same day as White Coat Ceremony, reinforcing the responsibilities that come with patient care. Both fourth and third year D.D.S. and all DH students participating in clinical care are required to attend the lecture, which also welcomed many faculty, staff and residents. More than 200 people attended either in-person or virtually. 

Legacy Luncheon

Following the lecture and before the White Coat Ceremony, VCU School of Dentistry alumni were invited to a celebratory lunch with relatives of current students receiving their white coats. The annual event is an opportunity for alumni to reconnect with an experience they now share and to interact with leadership to learn about changes and plans at the school. More than 70 people attended the luncheon, located in a spacious dining hall adjacent to the theater’s stage entrance.

“We strive to maintain relationships with all of our alumni so they remain connected to the school and feel engaged in the exciting changes and developments that have occurred and are being planned,” said Mary Pettiette, D.D.S., associate dean for admissions at VCU School of Dentistry. “But what I love most are the stories. It’s wonderful to hear alumni at each table reminiscing about their experience at the school while celebrating a future oral health professional in their family.”

White Coat Ceremony

Lunch had just finished and participants were gathering for group photos by the time students and their loved ones began showing up for the White Coat Ceremony. The marquee outside the theater and the grandeur inside added to the ceremonial excitement leading up to the main event. After families were seated, faculty took the stage and each class received a standing ovation as they entered and proceeded to their seats. Interim Dean Clara Spatafore, D.D.S., M.S., began the ceremony by welcoming the attendees. 

“The presentation of the students’ white coats indicate they have accepted the serious responsibilities for patient care and demonstrates their dedication to the profession. It also denotes their transition from solely classroom and laboratory activities to patient care activities,” said Spatafore, who is also chair of the Departments of Endodontics and Oral Diagnostic Sciences at VCU School of Dentistry. “By putting on this coat, we accept the responsibilities that come with it. Those responsibilities include: the ability to make ethical clinical decisions, which means putting a patient’s needs above our own as practitioners; to act as a professional in all endeavors; and to contribute to the profession through membership and advocacy.”

Spatafore then provided statistics showing the broad diversity within each class. Winslow, the morning’s Mirmelstein speaker, then offered brief congratulatory remarks reminding the students of their new call to trustworthiness as budding dental and dental hygiene professionals.

Following these remarks, David Wein, president of the DH class of 2023, came to the stage to call upon his classmates, each of whom was coated by DH faculty including Tammy Swecker, R.D.H., interim director of the DH program and Latesha McLee, assistant professor in the DH program. Following their coating, each student signed a professional Code of Conduct before returning to their seats. Then, Heather Tuthill, R.D.H., Dental Hygiene program administrator, led them in reciting their Dental Hygiene Oath. 

Next it was the D.D.S. class of 2024’s turn to take the stage. Class President Sierra Suarez-Friend assumed the podium and began calling her classmates to the stage, where they were coated by faculty members including Harmeet Chiang, B.D.S., D.D.S., M.S., F.A.G.D., associate professor in the Department of General Practice; Awab Abdulmajeed, D.D.S., M.S.,  director of the International Dentist Program; David Russell, D.D.S., interim director of the Department of General Practice; and Howard Branker, D.D.S., adjunct professor in the Department of General Practice. Michael Healy, D.D.S., associate dean for student affairs, assisted the students in signing the Professional Code of Conduct before they returned to their seats, where Pettiette led them in reciting the Dentist’s Pledge. 

Following applause, there was one more surprise in store. After each D.D.S. and DH student signed their Code of Conduct, they were handed an envelope. Spatafore, in her closing remarks, asked each student to open their envelope, where they would find the personal statement they submitted as part of their application to VCU School of Dentistry. 

“These are the words you composed to express your commitment to these wonderful professions. Later today, I would like for you to re-read your personal statement to remind yourself why you chose dentistry and dental hygiene,” said Spatafore. “Many of your essays focused on serving others, helping the underserved and making a difference. It is our sincerest hope that you remember the intent and promise of your words and recommit to those principles.”

The clouds and colder weather present at the beginning of the day made way for clear skies and spring-like temperatures by the time the ceremony concluded. In the lobby and outside the theater, students stood with their loved ones, posed for pictures and reflected on this major milestone in their journey to become an oral health professional.