Webb Family Grant

Maria completed the Shasta College Dental Hygiene program in May 2023 and currently works as a hygienist in Redding and Red Bluff. Maria’s passion for helping underserved communities began as a child and grew while she was in hygiene school where she participated in a mission trip to Mexico after completing her first year of the program. Maria has a desire to continue serving patients in rural communities and to pursue higher education to increase her skills and knowledge of dentistry.

The 2019 recipient, Priyadarshini Agrawal, DMD, will use the grant to continue her work at Healthright 360 in San Francisco. Her focus is to expand the pilot pediatric program and collaborate with leaders to better meet community needs.

As the child from a small, rural village in Northern India, Dr. Agrawal was exposed early on to disparities in healthcare and basic living standards. With a heart for public health dentistry, she has volunteered and organized dental services for large underserved populations, and she’s working to develop new interdisciplinary care models, test drive solutions and recruit more dentists in her pursuit to improve access to care.

The 2018 recipient, Ivy Fua, DDS, will use the grant to continue her work as a pediatric dentist serving the Hispanic community of Los Angeles.  As the child of immigrant parents with limited resources, Dr. Fua was the first person in her family to go to college. She graduated from the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC in June 2018, and now dedicates her work to eliminating obstacles for children with special health care needs.

The 2017 recipient, Andrew Nguyen, DDS, will use the grant to continue his work as a full-time general dentist at the King Chavez Health Center in San Diego, the special-needs clinic that in conjunction with San Diego Regional Center provides dental care for approximately 3,000 patients with disabilities annually.

Dr. Nguyen grew up with a brother who has severe autism. He went on to serve this population after graduating in 2014 from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry and completing his general practice residency at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, a program in Los Angeles County that emphasizes special-needs dentistry. There he learned to responsibly manage preoperative and postoperative patients.

“Patients with spinal cord injuries, craniofacial anomalies, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, post-brain injury and neurologic disorders have limited access to dental care in the community and elsewhere due to their disabilities,” Dr. Nguyen said. “Many of these patients are not manageable in the special-needs clinic.”

Among other community service commitments, Dr. Nguyen provided dental screenings and constructed mouth guards for athletes with special needs for the Special Olympics’ Special Smiles program and completed a U.S. Navy mission in 2010 in Vietnam and Cambodia

The recipient of the 2016 grant is Martha De La Pena, DMD. Born and raised in Mexico, Dr. De La Pena took her first job at age 14 and was the first in her family to receive an education beyond high school. She left Mexico for better opportunities and, while living with her aunt in the U.S., she attended school and helped support her family.

“Early on, I realized that my family needed my help,” she said. Dr. De La Pena graduated from Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health in Mesa, Ariz., in 2013. After graduation, she went to work at the County of Marin Dental Clinic and has been with the Marin Community Clinic in San Rafael since August 2015.

Dr. De La Pena has more than nine years’ collective volunteer experience with Give Kids a Smile, the Native American Health Center in San Francisco and other nonprofits. She would like to one day become a dental director of a community clinic and perhaps run for public office.

“I believe that health providers need to be in positions where we can not only advocate for our patients but also help lead the conversations needed to shape the health system of the United States,” she says.

Osvaldo Amezcua, DDS, was born in a farming village in Mexico. His family moved to the United States when he was 4 years old, settling in Salinas. His parents did not speak English, but Dr. Amezcua worked hard and attended Santa Clara University. He then attended the UCSF School of Dentistry, participating in Give Kids a Smile Day and serving as coordinator of the UCSF Community Dental Clinic. His future career goal is to work in a community-based clinic in Salinas to provide care to the underserved.

Allyson Park, DDS, the first recipient of the Webb Family Grant, says that receiving this $5,000 award has “lightened her financial burden and allowed her to continue focusing on helping the underserved as a public service dental provider.”