After graduating with honors from the OHSU School of Dentistry, Kimberly Wright, D.M.D. ’89, has consistently challenged herself to grow, learn new skills and become a better dentist.
“My big mantra for years has been, ‘Just build one new skill a year,’” Wright says. “It’s just who I am – always learning something new. I would get bored if I was always doing the same thing.”
After 35 years in private practice, Wright continues to take over 100 hours of Continuing Education (CE) courses annually. By learning new treatments and procedures, she feels she can better serve her patients, with whom she has already built relationships.
“Once you get that relationship and you have that connection with your patient, it’s so much easier for them to accept treatment if you’re going to do it,” Wright says. “And even if I don’t do a procedure, learning more about it helps me to be able to prepare my patient for what to expect at the specialist’s office.”
Wright recalls that, after she graduated, one of the first hands-on CE courses she attended was offered by the Oregon Academy of General Dentistry (OAGD) at OHSU. Alumnus George McCully, D.M.D. ’73, a course instructor, ultimately became a mentor to Wright.
In 1994, McCully acted as Wright’s reference when she applied to the Pankey Institute in Florida. Wright sought to gain a comprehensive knowledge of dental care, and the Pankey Institute was one of the only nationally established organizations aimed at helping dental professionals elevate their clinical expertise.
Once there, Wright attended hands-on workshops and seminars, staying in Florida for a week at a time. “It’s really taking you from being a good dentist to being an excellent dentist,” she says.
As she continued honing her expertise over the years, Wright says the role she and McCully played for each other was at times flipped, and McCully sometimes called on her for advice. “It’s kind of a neat evolution of a relationship,” she says.
Attending CE classes remained a priority for Wright. She attended 500 hours of Program Approval for Continuing Education (PACE) courses and passed the examination to earn a fellowship through the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD). In 2011, she received her Mastership Award from the AGD by gaining additional hands-on education in every discipline of dentistry, including orthodontics, pedodontics, periodontics and dental surgery, such as dental implants and root canals.
When Wright was working toward her fellowship and mastership, the classes she needed to attend were offered over a five-to-seven-year period through the OAGD. Based on her experience, she recognized that understanding which classes to attend could be confusing, and members expressed a desire for a clearer track toward mastership. In 2018, Wright helped design a three-year, 400-hour, hands-on MasterTrack program in Oregon.
As a member of the OAGD Dental Education Council, Wright interacted regularly with the AGD’s national council. After designing the MasterTrack program in Oregon, she realized she and her Oregon colleagues could help constituents throughout the nation develop their own MasterTrack programs.
“I was very involved in creating the MasterTrack Director’s Manual at the national level. I didn’t invent it, but I took materials that had been around and organized them in a fashion that was more of a cookbook,” she says. “‘Here is how you start a MasterTrack program, and here is what you continue to think about.’” Not surprisingly, Wright was named the first director of the OAGD MasterTrack program.
Wright feels her greatest achievement was in 2019 when she and her colleagues spearheaded building the OAGD education center, a clinical and continuing education space in which the OAGD could offer their courses.
“A lot of us worked hard on it and we raised the money and got that place built,” she says. “Now we just have to make sure we keep it going.”
Wright feels her OHSU education gave her a strong foundation and would recommend the program to others. As one of 11 female dental students in her graduating class of 60, she benefitted from the small class size that the School of Dentistry maintains. She believes the educational opportunities within the professional dental community in Portland provide a bonus for OHSU students.
“OHSU, the ODA and the OAGD, we’ve always been collegial and collaborative,” she says. “And with the new dean (Ron Sakaguchi, D.D.S., Ph.D., M.B.A.), I think there’s even more potential to expand that collaboration. It’s a win-win.”
In her many leadership roles, Wright has served as past president of the OAGD and past trustee for the Oregon Dental Association (ADA). In 2023, she was elected secretary of the AGD, a position she currently holds. She is a member of the American Dental Association, the AGD, the American Academy of Orofacial Pain and the American College of Dentists. She received the ODA Presidential Citation in both 2015 and 2019. In 2023, she was awarded the Thaddeous Weclew Award, the AGD’s highest recognition for outstanding contributions to the art and science of dentistry, and in 2024, she received the OHSU School of Dentistry Alumni Association President’s Award.
Wright remains passionate about lifelong learning — whether as a student or an instructor — as her primary means to pursue dental excellence and better serve her patients.
“Continuing Education and getting involved in my profession, having a say about its direction, that’s kind of how I recharge my batteries,” she says. “Having 35 years of experience, helping someone else – it’s really nice to see young people have those ‘Aha!’ moments. For me, it’s just about helping to make a difference.”
