Signing up for a set of braces with one Manteca orthodontist is in reality becoming a part of an extended family where patients socialize with their dentist and her family of five.
Dr. Trang Duong likes people, she likes her patients, especially the youngsters –she likes working with them. Other dentists and their staffs showed their love and respect for her Wednesday as she hosted a noon celebration marking her 10th anniversary. She was dressed in Halloween attire as a “lady bug.” Members of her professional community – dentists and staff members alike – filled her dental suite on Fremont Avenue with food, desserts and laughter.
She and her husband Andrew – a Tracy orthodontist – schedule special appreciation days for all their patients taking them to ball games and to the movies. That adds up to about 400 patients, family members and friends at any given event.
Going to an Oakland A’s baseball game starts with a huge tailgate party for their family of patients. Trang said they reserve a section in the Coliseum so that everyone can sit together on the second level.
When they go to the movies as a dental family, Trang said she just reserves the Manteca Marketplace Theater for everyone who wants to go. A bulletin board in her office has pictures posted of the happy events showing Manteca area residents – young and old – demonstrating a definite level of excitement during the outings.
“It’s our way of just saying thank you,” the dentist said.
Trang began practicing in November of 2000 when she rented office space with Dr. Joseph Julian on West Yosemite Avenue. After two years she moved her office to the 100 block of North Fremont Avenue where it intersects with Center Street.
It’s the young girls who first go to her for braces at nine or 10 years old that she enjoys seeing grow up right in front of her. As they move into their teens and approach adulthood they will bring boyfriends in to meet their dentist – and Trang admittedly beams at the thought of those introductions. It is all about family, she says.
The orthodontist added that there are exciting times when her patients are getting ready for their proms, senior pictures or for older patients their reunions. Trang said she tries to schedule the aging of their braces to come off for the social dates on the calendar, adding it is not always best for the patient.
“I try,” she said, “because I know how important it is to them.”
One 15-year-old East Union High School student Hailey Linton voiced her support for her Manteca orthodontist Wednesday afternoon showing off a spiffy T-shirt she just received last week from her dentist.
On the front is written, “Peace, Love, Smile,” and on the back, “Got Braces?”
The dental couple have three children Quynh, 8, Hanh, 5, and Thao, 10 months. They all have their dad’s family name of Trosien. Ten-month-old Thao was the little princess in her mother’s arms at the Wednesday office anniversary celebration. Her parents were there from the Bay Area to spell her as she was greeting friends and associates at the luncheon.
Trang and her husband Andrew met while in the Orthodontics program at the University of San Francisco opening their separate practices about the same time.
“Our kids know what both of us do,” she said. “When they are asked in school what they want to do when they grow up, they both say orthodontists.”
She said she often brings them to the office on her Friday off day when called for an emergency situation
Her office staff consists of registered dental assistant Jessica Chimerofsky, Laura Childs, who has been with the office 10 years and works the desk and the back; and receptionist on the front desk Nicole Melendez.
Dr. Trang Duong likes people, she likes her patients, especially the youngsters –she likes working with them. Other dentists and their staffs showed their love and respect for her Wednesday as she hosted a noon celebration marking her 10th anniversary. She was dressed in Halloween attire as a “lady bug.” Members of her professional community – dentists and staff members alike – filled her dental suite on Fremont Avenue with food, desserts and laughter.
She and her husband Andrew – a Tracy orthodontist – schedule special appreciation days for all their patients taking them to ball games and to the movies. That adds up to about 400 patients, family members and friends at any given event.
Going to an Oakland A’s baseball game starts with a huge tailgate party for their family of patients. Trang said they reserve a section in the Coliseum so that everyone can sit together on the second level.
When they go to the movies as a dental family, Trang said she just reserves the Manteca Marketplace Theater for everyone who wants to go. A bulletin board in her office has pictures posted of the happy events showing Manteca area residents – young and old – demonstrating a definite level of excitement during the outings.
“It’s our way of just saying thank you,” the dentist said.
Trang began practicing in November of 2000 when she rented office space with Dr. Joseph Julian on West Yosemite Avenue. After two years she moved her office to the 100 block of North Fremont Avenue where it intersects with Center Street.
It’s the young girls who first go to her for braces at nine or 10 years old that she enjoys seeing grow up right in front of her. As they move into their teens and approach adulthood they will bring boyfriends in to meet their dentist – and Trang admittedly beams at the thought of those introductions. It is all about family, she says.
The orthodontist added that there are exciting times when her patients are getting ready for their proms, senior pictures or for older patients their reunions. Trang said she tries to schedule the aging of their braces to come off for the social dates on the calendar, adding it is not always best for the patient.
“I try,” she said, “because I know how important it is to them.”
One 15-year-old East Union High School student Hailey Linton voiced her support for her Manteca orthodontist Wednesday afternoon showing off a spiffy T-shirt she just received last week from her dentist.
On the front is written, “Peace, Love, Smile,” and on the back, “Got Braces?”
The dental couple have three children Quynh, 8, Hanh, 5, and Thao, 10 months. They all have their dad’s family name of Trosien. Ten-month-old Thao was the little princess in her mother’s arms at the Wednesday office anniversary celebration. Her parents were there from the Bay Area to spell her as she was greeting friends and associates at the luncheon.
Trang and her husband Andrew met while in the Orthodontics program at the University of San Francisco opening their separate practices about the same time.
“Our kids know what both of us do,” she said. “When they are asked in school what they want to do when they grow up, they both say orthodontists.”
She said she often brings them to the office on her Friday off day when called for an emergency situation
Her office staff consists of registered dental assistant Jessica Chimerofsky, Laura Childs, who has been with the office 10 years and works the desk and the back; and receptionist on the front desk Nicole Melendez.
