I can still recall the excitement I felt the day my mother bought me my first set of hand carving tools from the local craft store. I was almost fourteen and yearning for the slow ride home to be over so I could run into the garage and finally start on my first project, a wooden chess set. In the beginning I made mistakes, ruined projects with hours of labor already invested, my hands became sore and often blistered and more than once I cut myself but I found that if I was dedicated, and I didn't give up just because the work was difficult or because my hands ached, my efforts would all pay off in a big way. I acquired an eye for detail, and learned to recognize and work with imperfections in the wood, I gained the precise steady control needed for detailed carvings, and most importantly I learned that doing something well enough doesn't even compare to the satisfaction gained from doing something perfectly as planned. I didn't know it at the time but my initial spark of interest grew into a passion for creating and a thirst for knowledge and seven years down the road I now often work with a high speed dremel extension that closely resembles a high speed dental drill on materials ranging from antler or bone, to exotic hardwoods or shells. A dentist must have a love for detailed work, fine motor control, a dedication to their art, a passion for working with their hands, and a continuous thirst for self-improvement, education, and expanding their skill set. I strongly believe I have these essential traits and for this reason a career as a dentist has always been appealing to me. The artistic side of dentistry is just a fraction of what draws me to the field; to a further extent dentists significantly improve the lives of their patients.
I experienced this first hand when at the age of fourteen I had braces. Though my orthodontist and dentist Dr. Gilmore didn't know it he sparked my interest in becoming a dentist with giving me the confidence to smile. The degree to which he changed my life at such a critical age can perhaps only truly be appreciated by somebody who also has had braces and has felt the transition from never smiling in a picture, to the person that smiles the biggest. I want to help people in the same way, to be a role model, and to inspire confidence and to improve lives. Dr. Gilmore included me in the process of my treatment; he explained the methods he employed and was happy to show me his tool kit and inspired me to research dentistry for a number of class projects throughout high school.
Since then I have learned a great deal about dentistry as a profession by shadowing several dentist. I have learned about many of the challenges of operating a business, the difficulty some patients may pose, but also the satisfaction of helping a patient in pain from an infected root, or the appeal of learning to use new forms of technology such as the 3M True Definition Scanner for digital impressioning. I am particularly thankful for the insight my older brother Adam has given me about dental school, now a second year student of The Ohio State University College of Dentistry he has spoken with me daily about the materials he is learning, encourage me to try working with a high speed drill on a mounted mannequin, and showing me the impressions, crown preps and wax models he has worked on. My older brother has been a driving influence throughout my life and I hope to one day open a dental practice with him and to accompany him on international dental volunteer efforts in underserved countries, especially in Spanish speaking countries where my knowledge of the language would help me to better serve the community.
Helping people has always been central to my life, weather it was participating at Relay for Life events through my high school, volunteering in the community, helping my brothers with their homework, or serving as a biology tutor at Ohio University I find genuine joy in enriching the lives of others. A large part of helping others is being able to connect with them, something I have become particularly skilled at as a result of moving fourteen times while growing up and overcoming the difficult of meeting new people and making genuine connections. The social skills I have gained as a result of overcoming this difficulty have become an invaluable asset to my character. As a future dentist I aspire to be able to connect with patients to best help them, and to make a positive impression in their lives.
