When you go through school, when you do this every single day, its not a big deal to you, but to a patient who maybe have been waiting weeks, days, years all that it’s life changing and to have that much power to change someone’s life while keeping them happy. It’s just amazing.
Dr. Neena Baghaie, DMD sat down with Pre-Health Advisor Carmen Gamlin to discuss memories of her time as a pre-dentistry student at Detroit Mercy. She offers advice to Pre-Health Titans considering Graduate School out of State and share her experiences as a Dentist. Here are the highlights from her interview.
- Please share a fond memory about your tine as an undergrad at Detroit Mercy.
So I spent a lot of time with the Chemistry Club and there is a day we found a bunch of unused thermite in one of Dr. Benvenuto’s Labs and for those of you who don’t know what thermite is it is what is used to make up fireworks, and so every Friday with a little bit of guidance and Dr. B would find different things to blow up and it was a lot of fun!
- Any advice for pre-health students about what to expect in graduate school out of state? Dr. Neena Baghaie completed Dental school in Ohio and now practices there!
Going to school out of state was really a chance to spread my wings. Kind of find out what I liked, what I don’t like, to explore a new area, and on top of that when you’re applying to grad school, especially in the health professions, you go when you get in! So it’s a good opportunity to really, you know, grow as an individual and learn more about yourself.
- What is one of your favorite things that is part of being a dentist? Is Dentistry what you expected as an undergrad?
So there’s some things that you know you expect…you clean people’s teeth, you make them happy. You make sure they’re in a good state of health. You keep them healthy. But then there’s also those moments that no one prepares you for which we go on either side of the spectrum. For starters, today maybe about 2 hours ago, I had to call 911 for a patient which was a fantastic experience…
On the other hand, I remember for an appointment last week we did 4 front teeth for a patient who hadn’t been to a dentist in years and at the end of the appointment you know, for us it was no big deal. Its just regular every day dentistry but the patient felt they can smile again and they almost started crying in the chair which means I almost started crying in the chair but its such a good feeling to know you could make such a big difference for people in their lives like that.