My spirit of growth has always been the cornerstone of my development; as an Indian woman, a very hard-working dentist, and someone who is making a success of the immigrant experience to America. My aptitude in the natural sciences, coupled with a very high level of motivation, resulted in being admitted to a prestigious dental school in my country and distinguishing myself for excellence as a student at the Sree Balaji Dental College and Hospital. My passion is to thrive as a dentist, and I see earning the DDS Degree by completing your distinguished program for international dentists as the first stage of a lifelong journey of learning and improvement.
My sense of mission to the poor and underserved in dentistry is driven by my religious faith. As an active part of India’s small Christian minority, my spiritual fortitude was always expressed through my avid participation in the youth organization of our church since childhood. I spent a great deal of time working in our organization’s Mercy Homes for the Destitute, taking care of those who have nothing. I mostly tended to their basic needs of food, shelter, and hygiene. This included service at orphanages, where I worked with and helped mentally challenged children and elderly patients. By the time that I was in dental school, my work with our Mercy Homes was almost exclusively devoted to promoting and assisting with dental hygiene.
As a dentistry student, I realized early on the importance of primary dental health promotion and the prevention of various sources of infection and disease. This was immediately relevant to the health of my family and neighbors since I am from a rural area of India and a family of very modest resources. Thus, I was very highly motivated to assume leadership positions in campus and community outreach campaigns designed to educate our population about the importance of preventive oral health care. Sometimes we were able to find corporate sponsors such as the Colgate-Palmolive Company to help finance our efforts. In addition to general oral health education and demonstrating proper oral hygiene, we also provided primary dental care, which left us feeling extremely fulfilled and joyous after long stints of time spent working at these dental camps.
After finishing dental school, I went to work full-time for the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS). During my time here, I performed and perfected a myriad of treatments ranging from prosthodontic work to composite fillings, endodontic and periodontic procedures along with surgical extractions. I was pleased that the clinic at which I worked catered to many international patients, and I had the opportunity to meet and assist people from many parts of the world, in addition to Indians. I learned to understand better and appreciate their different cultural perspectives concerning oral health. For example, patients from the Maldives ate betel nut after every meal, which had become their tradition, but at the same time, they did not realize the harmful effects it did on their periodontium. Once they were educated about the facts, they made sure to come back every year to get the prevention done.
After finishing my dental education in India, I had always dreamed of coming to America for further studies. Now that I am a permanent resident of the USA, I want very much to continue my profession in America. I have passed the NBDE and continued my passion by volunteering in a dental clinic. Since October of 2014, I have been shadowing and assisting Dr. XXXX, who graduated from the University of Texas. This experience has taught me much about how dentistry is practiced here in the United States. In addition, this further cultivated my multicultural sensitivities in dentistry since Dr. XXXX’s patients are initially from all over the world. He helped me to appreciate better the significant progress that has been made in dentistry in the USA throughout the last couple of decades. And Doctor XXXX takes the time to educate his patients about the oral health and regularly makes sure that they follow up on their treatment plans. While shadowing, I witnessed how patients were keen to know about their treatment plans. They would then do further research about themselves, getting better informed about their oral health issues to implement proactive and preventive measures that keep their conditions from worsening.
I hope to one day start my own mobile clinic; this is a particular dream of mine. I look forward to putting the knowledge and skills that I will acquire in your DDS program to work for many decades to come! My passion for thriving as a dentist will finally be fulfilled by constantly refining my diagnostic skill, educating patients, and motivating them to follow through with treatment plans; in every case, providing the support and empathy that has come to be associated with the best part of our profession.
I thank you for considering my application.
