David Nielson, DDS

Board Member | APA Dental Director

David Nelson

In 1986, Dr. Nielson moved to Anchorage from California where he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California Davis and his DDS degree from the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco. It was in dental school where he met his wife, Dr. Julie Robinson, who had grown up in Anchorage and subsequently lured him to Alaska. Together, they worked at the Anchorage Neighborhood Dental Clinic for a few years while starting a private practice in downtown Anchorage where they enjoyed treating patients for 27 years. After retiring from private practice, Dr. Nielson began to work part-time at Southcentral Foundation and also worked together with his wife to organize two massive 100 dental chair Mission of Mercy dental clinics that treated thousands of people for free who stood in long lines at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage. It was during this time of his career when he discovered how much he enjoyed helping people on a much bigger scale than he could accomplish in his own practice. He also discovered he would need some help doing it.

 Luckily, Anchorage Project Access (APA) and Dr. Nielson found each other as APA was in search of a sustainable dental program, and Dr. Nielson was in search of an organization that could help with administration and funding. It has been a fulfilling relationship that Dr. Nielson hopes will continue to flourish. He is proud of all the volunteer dentists and offices who offer their services in order to make the dental program work and equally proud of all the staff and volunteers at APA who make it such a successful program.