For 28 years, Dr. Daniel Albert provided dental care to patients with special needs through Dartmouth General Hospital. This past weekend, Dr. Albert received the prestigious Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Dental Association which recognizes outstanding contributions to the dental profession and to the community.
Dr. Albert began working at Dartmouth General in 1998, while maintaining his personal practice. His hospital patients were people with special needs or complex medical issues, where it was not possible to have dentistry done in a clinic environment and extra support was necessary.
“It was really challenging dentistry, but wonderful,” he says. “The relationships I made with the patients, and the care workers or parents, it’s quite something. They’ve put a lot of trust in you by basically letting you see what needs to be done and then go do it. So you need to be well-versed in all aspects of dentistry and you need to be efficient.”
The team environment at Dartmouth General helped with that care and efficiency. Dr. Albert says everyone from the anesthesiologists to the nursing staff worked well together. The J&W Murphy Foundation provided generous support for equipment needs.
“Everybody was pulling in the same direction, it was really a joy to work there,” he says. “I do miss my colleagues at DGH. They are wonderful, hardworking people that care deeply for their patients.”
Last December, Dr. Albert retired from Dartmouth General but continues working at Hammond Dental Centre in Bedford. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Dental Association for his decades of compassionate service and his dedication to improving access to dental care for patients with special needs.
“I didn’t expect to receive any recognition, but it is nice to be recognized,” says Dr. Albert. “It was something I enjoyed doing and I felt the need in my community to provide that service.”
