Professor, retired colonel recipient of ADA Distinguished Service Award

Theresa S. Gonzales, D.M.D., continues to demonstrate commitment to underserved

Retired U.S. Army Col. Theresa S. Gonzales, D.M.D., remembers her childhood dentist well.

“Our dental care was provided by the local dentist in my hometown, and I can honestly say that the only two words that he ever spoke to me, or my four siblings, was ‘open’ and ‘spit.’”

But what he lacked in conversation skills, she said, was made up in abundance with compassion and integrity.

“He was a genuinely kind and honorable man who wore the starched white dental smocks of that era, and he meticulously maintained the environment of care for his patients. He was our dentist, and we were his patients. He encouraged me to consider dentistry as a career, and I did not want to disappoint him. He cared about us, our community and our teeth, in that order.”

The daughter of a career soldier, Dr. Gonzales grew up to become both a dentist and ultimately a colonel in the U.S. Army. As chair of the department of advanced specialty sciences and director of the Ryan White Dental Clinic at the Medical University of South Carolina’s James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine, she demonstrated a lifelong commitment to leadership, education, military readiness, veterans and serving the underserved.

For that, the ADA Board of Trustees is awarding her the Association’s 2024 Distinguished Service Award, one of the highest honors the ADA bestows on its members.

“In addition to her distinguished service in the military, Dr. Theresa Gonzales has been an educator for nearly 35 years,” said ADA President Linda J. Edgar, D.D.S. “She brings her real-world experiences as an oral and maxillofacial pathologist to the classroom, along with her perspectives on the importance of interprofessional collaboration for optimal patient care. Amid all of these roles, she also advocates for improved dental care for veterans in her service on the board of the ADA Foundation. I am so happy that she is being recognized for her many years of service to her patients, to the next generation of dentists, and to our country.”

Dr. Gonzales will accept her award in October at SmileCon 2024 in New Orleans.

“Generally, people have encouraged me to achieve whatever was humanly possible with the knowledge, skills and attributes that I possess and for that I am truly grateful,” said Dr. Gonzales.

Army of one

Mark A. Miller, D.M.D., M.D., associate professor, faculty endowed chair and associate dean for hospital affairs at the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, said Dr. Gonzales was in the top 1% of all clinicians he has ever worked with.

“When I reflect on Dr. Gonzales’ life of service, it is clear to me that she is the shining example of what distinguished service should be, as evident in her career as an officer in the United States Army, serving meritoriously at every level along the way,” Dr. Miller said. “Her dedication to continuing her own education in the spirit of serving the population at greatest risk place her in a rare and elite group.

Her achievements are too many to discuss, but the picture they paint are of a servant who excels at every opportunity, leads by example and above all, places her patients first.”

Dr. Gonzales grew up in a small town in upstate South Carolina, with parents she proudly called members of the greatest generation. “My childhood was pretty idyllic,” she said. “As an intrepid adventurer, I rode horseback and fished almost every day. Life was perfect.”

According to Dr. Gonzales, her blessed childhood led her to voluntarily join the Army.

“The United States Army is the family business,” Dr. Gonzales said. “I grew up in a very military family, so from my perspective, I have always been in the Army. My immediate family has served in every war since World War I, and this was somewhat expected as a condition of citizenry.”

Dr. Gonzales graduated from the College of Charleston in 1980 and earned her D.M.D. at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1984. That same year, she began her military service with a general practice residency at Moncreif Army Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina.

Over the years, she served as a peacekeeper with the Multinational Force and Observers posted to El Gorah, Egypt, at the Walter Reed Army Regional Medical Center, and as director of strategic communications with the Office of the Surgeon General, which she concluded in 2013 when she joined her alma mater as a professor of oral pathology and director of orofacial pain management.

New focus, new role

When she retired from the military, she wanted to focus on the diagnosis and treatment of chronic orofacial pain. It was important to her, she said, “Primarily due to the fact that these patients are ‘medical orphans,’ and they are bounced from place to place trying to access the care they require. Chronic pain management should and must be a priority in
health care.”

When she retired to her native South Carolina, she endeavored to establish a pain management portal for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic orofacial pain.

“Chronic orofacial pain is relatively common with approximately 7-12% of the general population reporting such symptoms, which concomitantly occur with other somatic symptoms that cannot be adequately explained by known organic pathology,” Dr. Gonzales said.

With her support, the Chronic Orofacial Pain Management Service was born, the first service of this type to be offered at the college of dental medicine.

“Over the past several years, I have endeavored to diagnose and treat a robust cohort of patients with chronic orofacial pain complaints, and I regularly review the treatment outcomes in a deliberate effort to refine and more importantly improve treatment efficacy with regard to chronic pain patients in general,” she said.

On top of those efforts, Dr. Gonzales said her favorite days of the week are spent at the Roper Ryan White Clinic, a multidisciplinary health care facility devoted to providing HIV/AIDS care by an interprofessional team of experts in infectious disease.

“It’s where we can regularly deliver on the promise of oral health care for vulnerable communities,” she said. “Providing access and equity to oral health care for vulnerable and underserved populations is a public health mandate.”

Next on her agenda, she said, is a life centered on public health and public health policy that makes oral health care front and center in the overall health care debate.

“I am an unapologetic ‘policy wonk,’ and I know we can do this. We must reimagine a healthier America — one that makes good on access and equity,” Dr. Gonzales said. “Lessons from our shared experience of the pandemic taught us that the health of all of us depends on the health of each of us.”

When she looks back, Dr. Gonzales is most proud of her opportunity to assist in the education of successive generations of clinician-scholars.

“Dentistry has changed dramatically in my lifetime and as a career educator, I have been able to champion curricular changes to help equip 21st century learners.”