Since I was little, I have always wanted to become a dentist. I am not sure at what exact point I decided this, but there have been multiple times in my life where I catch myself being so interested in dentistry. I think one thing that has really made me interested in dentistry is the fact that I have spent so much time in dentist offices. Growing up, I always thought that my teeth were fine and I knew that I would eventually need braces, but I never thought I would have any more problems with my teeth. When it was time to finally get braces, my dentist took an x-ray of my teeth and told me that I was missing a tooth. I had one baby tooth left in my mouth and it would always start getting loose and then reattach itself because there was not a permanent tooth above to push it out. From this point, I have had braces twice, a bone graft, and dental implant. When people ask me what I want to do when I am older, they are often surprised that I want to become a dentist. Having so much work done on teeth, they think that it would drive me away from every wanting to become a dentist. Having a lot of different work done on my teeth has shown me and given me a lot of experience of what dentists actually do.

Last year in high school, we were given a week off of school to work as an intern wherever we wanted. I chose to be an intern at a dentist office and although I observed the whole time, it was so interesting watching the dentist fill a cavity, bond a tooth, take impressions, etc. I was only able to intern two days because I received permission to have my wisdom teeth removed during this week. Not only did I get my wisdom teeth removed, but I also had a bone graft. I rested the day of the surgery, but the next day, I felt fine, so I went and shadowed my oral surgeon, although my face was so swollen and my face was covered with bruises.

Right now, I am majoring in Fashion and Brand Management. I applied to Textiles undecided because I have always loved fashion and clothes and knew that one did not have to major in a science to go to dental school. During the first couple of weeks of the first semester, I was taking T 101 and TT 105. T 101 was focused on what Textiles is all about and what jobs one can gain from a Textile major and then the other class focused on Textile Technology and Medical Textiles. I found myself really enjoying learning about medical textiles, but as the semester went on, I no longer found interest in either side. I am hoping to change my major to psychology and get the prerequisites for dental school, so I can pursue my dream of becoming a dentist.  

Seeing a lot of different sides of dentistry has been so interesting to me and has made it so much harder to decide on what I want to do. Whenever I am given the chance to write about any topic of my choice, I always choose dentistry because I know I will not get tired of researching or talking about it. When I am bored, I often find myself looking up facts and information about teeth and rare diseases. Being able to have so many chances to go to the dentist office for all the problems with my teeth has really shown me how interested I am in dentistry and how much I have been learning. Although I am not thrilled about what I have to go through, I am almost thankful in a way that I have gone through all of this because it has given me the chance to experience and learn about dentistry.