Have you ever had a Black woman or Black man as your dentist?
If you have, consider this rare. Only 4 percent of dentists across the country are Black.
Dr. Airiga Tucker-Mims and Dr. Bruce Hamilton are two Milwaukee dentists calculated in that number. Dr. Hamilton found his purpose. He’s been dreaming of this life since he was 7 years old.
“When you start to think about private practice owners, I mean, there's probably not more than 5,” Dr. Hamilton said.
He’s referring to the amount of Black dentists in Milwaukee and the surrounding areas.
“When I came back here in 1997 there were like four or five of us.”
Although he was born and raised in Milwaukee, Dr. Hamilton went to Xavier University of Louisiana, a historically Black college, then went to dental school at the University of Minnesota. In his entire four years of dental school, he said he was the only Black student.
“I feel like I belong here. I'm secure in what it is that I do,” Dr. Hamilton said.
His experiences are very similar to Dr. Airiga Tucker-Mims. She too grew up in Milwaukee then went an HBCU. She attended Hampton University, then Marquette University for dental school. She was also one of the only Black students.
Right now, 4 percent of the student body is Black, and 32 percent are students of color. During the 2019-2020 school year, the dental school saw its first Black president of Marquette's School of Dentistry.
Dr. Tucker-Mims can relate to these experiences.
“I remember hearing, how did you get here?," Dr. Tucker-Mims said.
Dr. Tucker-Mims said she kept pushing through because she knew there was a greater purpose for her.
She's living out her purpose on Good Hope Road in Milwaukee with her own practice, The Smile Institute of Family Dentistry.
"We really want our patients to feel love, valued, embraced, calm, peace," Dr. Mims said.
That's what you feel when you walk through the door. The music, sweet relaxing smells, linger throughout the building. It's all about feeling comfortable.
"I often ask my patients, so what's new with you? I'm asking because I really want to know what's going on. I want to be a part of what's going on in your life," Dr. Mims said as she smiled.
From smiles, to tears: Dr. Mims gets emotional thinking about her patients and love for people.
"There are times where I'm crying with my patients because there are things that are affecting them," she said as she teared up. "You know, I just think about that and it's the honest to God truth."
"Why does that make you emotional?," reporter Symone Woolridge asked.
"Because I want people to know I care about them. If they share something with me there are times where I'll pray with them. Because that's what it's about. It's about loving and caring for people. It is really to show people that I care that whatever it is they're going through -- with prayer all things are possible."
She said it's an opportunity to not only be a dentist, but a ministry.
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