Being frowned upon for my teeth to an aspiring orthodontist by Luis

Being frowned upon for my teeth to an aspiring orthodontist by Luis - August 2024 Scholarship Essay

“Why do your teeth stick around like that?” “What’s wrong with your teeth?” “Do you know what a toothbrush is?” These questions would burden 12-year-old Luis's mind. The image of my teeth quickly formed into what other people saw as uneven, disgusting, and polluted. My big smile as a kid soon evaporated into a small smirk, and my hate for teeth grew. I hated seeing them in the mirror, I was not too fond of the jagged lines in them, and I hated all there was to hate about them and then some. In August of my sophomore year, after what felt like decades of begging, I was finally blessed with braces - and was fascinated. The way the archwire turned and aligned my once-broken teeth, turned my life around as a whole. It wasn’t in the way that I had self-confidence, could smile again, or started getting compliments – no, I had found something greater: The calling my creator placed on my life.

“How do expanders work?” I typed in the YouTube search bar. Greeted by 100s of videos showing expanders doing their job, I couldn’t stop watching. It was like this drug I hadn’t felt before, and it felt good to watch. The more I watched, the more my curiosity grew. I explored the different types of wires, brackets, and bands – If it was related to moving teeth into alignment, I wanted to know about it. Soon dentist trips became an event in my life to look forward to – I couldn’t wait for my teeth to be wailing in pain because I knew the result would be worth every moment spent in hurt.

Eventually, a year and a half passes by with them on. I knew I wanted to do more with teeth now, so I asked my orthodontist about every word I heard him say or everything he did in my teeth. We built a good relationship and he eventually invited me to start shadowing him the summer going into my senior year of high school.

It’s now August 14th, 2024, I have multiple hours of shadowing under my belt, a good understanding of dental terminology, and hope to be either a business major or biology major when I attend college. After college, I hope to get accepted into dental school, learn more than enough about becoming an orthodontist, and graduate dental school at the top of my class. I hope, when I get to that point in life, I have the tools available to open up my practice in whatever city I may be in – so I can inspire the next generation of orthodontists and show them their dental checkups are more than an overlooked, spit on appearance in this office they don’t want to sit in – it’s a lifestyle that builds knowledge and provides each person with the opportunity to improve someone's life for the betterment of themselves.