Alum is leader in pediatric dentistry, with focus on special needs
RSDM alum Elisa Velazquez at work.
Kids don’t get bored in the waiting room of Ocean Pediatric Dental Associates, the practice co-owned by RSDM alumna Elisa Velazquez.
There are arcade games, multiple TVs, a mural filled with frolicking sea creatures and, for cavity-free children, ticket giveaways to see the Blueclaws, a nearby minor league baseball team.
But that’s not what makes her Ocean County practice a success. Treating children is “not just dentistry for a small person,’’ says Velazquez, whose practice has two locations, one in Tom's River and one in Manahawkin.
“You have to have a true sense of empathy for the child and also for their family circumstances,’’ says Velazquez, who graduated from RSDM in 1999 and completed her pediatric residency here in 2001. “Sometimes we’re handling the emotions of the parents as well.”
According to Velazquez, whose practice partner is fellow alumna Linda Insano, collaborating with other specialists is key to working with pediatric patients. “You really have to understand how dentistry and medicine are interconnected. You’re not just fixing a tooth,’’ says Velazquez, who is vice-president of the NJ Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. "You are treating the child as a whole.''
She’s proud to call Ocean Pediatric Dental “the premier practice” for area children with special needs and credits her training at RSDM’s special care center with teaching her how to treat children with disabilities. For practitioners, interdisciplinary collaboration is especially important. “I communicate with their pediatrician, occupational therapist, speech therapist, and behaviorist. We communicate with each other and we learn from each other,’’ says Velazquez, who is staff dentist for Children’s Specialized Hospital and the Ocean County chairperson for Children’s Dental Health.
Velazquez was raised in Jersey City, the daughter of parents who owned a taxi cab company. “We had the dispatch station in the house. It was like a CB radio,’’ she remembers. “We grew up learning how to be professional.’’ As a teen, she hoped to enter the medical profession, but a summer spent as a nurse’s aid prompted second thoughts. “I was disappointed to realize I disliked the whole hospital scene,’’ she says. “My guidance counselor suggested dentistry since I’m more of a hands-on person. I decided to become a dental assistant to see how I liked it.’’
She liked it a lot and later enrolled at RSDM, where she formed close bonds with classmates and faculty. “I enjoyed the intimacy of a small dental school and the daily challenges ,’’ she says. “The clinical skills we received were fantastic and also the exposure to medicine and understanding the person as a whole, and not just through dentistry.’’
