A good smile is a priceless asset in all societies, but this is perhaps especially true in my own culture. I have seen the enormous difference that dental treatment can make in giving someone the confidence to smile easily and without self-consciousness. I know that dentistry can literally change a person’s life. I left high school in Iraq with excellent exam results, and this gave me access to degree studies in virtually any field that I chose. I definitely wanted my career choice to involve helping people and doing so directly, and so healthcare was a natural choice. Dentistry specifically appealed to me because of its literal life-changing potential and its varied aspects; diagnostic, pain relief, preventative and esthetic.
If I had ever doubted how helpful dentists are, then my work at free clinics when a student would have extinguished them. With our basic skills, we treated people who were often distressed because of pain or the inability to eat a regular diet. I have never felt so helpful in my life, and it is my firm intention to make frequent trips to my homeland to participate in such clinics, and I hope to do so as a highly-skilled and knowledgeable dentist who can pass on my skills to others. I am also very aware that the problems I treated were almost always the result of poor primary dental care, and I hope to assist in making people in Iraq much more mindful of the importance of routine and regular self-care, not only to the condition of their teeth, but to their oral and general health too.
Like many of my colleagues, I left Iraq because of the instability in the country and the shortage of opportunities to gain experience under the guidance of an expert practitioner. I worked in Amman, Jordan, for four and a half years as a dentist, initially as a volunteer to gain post-graduate experience, followed by salaried work in a dental office. The result was highly varied, and I was expected to undertake quite complex treatments, this experience was demanding, but I rose to the challenges and consider the experience to have been very positive. In addition to routine work, I handled removable partial and complete prostheses, fixed GRPWN and bridge construction, endodontic and periodontal treatments, minor oral surgery, and prophylactic treatments. I also shadowed a dentist in the US for several months, learning about the dental working environment in this country. I returned to the Middle East and took a course in a dental lab for six months, followed by a further ten months working in a dental office, again undertaking a wide variety of work.
I have been in the US since 2006 and have worked as a dental assistant and dental sales representative. I consider that I am now fully conversant with US dentistry and feel fully ready to join a program to enhance my present level of knowledge and experience to enable me to practice here and to assist the development of dentistry in my home country. I am especially interested in helping in research in the area of prosthodontics as I have significant experience in this area of work and am very interested in the way that it is developing. I hope, ultimately, to specialize in implant work. I have carefully kept in touch with developments in implant work since I graduated and am very excited at the pace of change and the nature of new treatments, techniques, and materials. I see great potential to help patients in many unique ways shortly.
I know that dentistry is a well-rewarded career primarily in the US, but I do genuinely seek to ‘make a difference rather than merely ‘make a good living and to do so both in this country and, as far as I can, in Iraq. I have always considered that privilege carries an unavoidable responsibility to ‘give something back and I fully intend to do so.
I am aware of the need for cultural sensitivity in the provision of healthcare. I have happily worked and socialized with people from many cultural and social backgrounds and look forward to extending these experiences in the program.
I know that the program will attract many well qualified applicants. However, I genuinely feel that I am an excellent candidate. I have had exceptionally wide experience in dental work since qualifying; I have had the time to acquire an excellent appreciation of dentistry in this country; I have ensured that I have kept in touch with developments in dentistry since my arrival in the US; I am deeply committed to sharing the skills and knowledge that the program will provide and in using them to provide excellent dental treatment to all my patients and to assist in the improvement of dental health and education in my own country.
Thank you for considering my application.
