Young Neha Sethi gazes with awe at a tray of pointy probes and mouth mirrors. The very things that make many kids kick and scream are what captivate her most.
“Even when I was three, I was saying that I wanted to be a dentist,” Sethi said.
Sethi, a 17-year-old senior at Del Val, is currently in the process of applying to programs that will enable her to take the next step toward this dream. However, her pursuit of dentistry far from began this school year.
Back in 2011, she was already training.
“[As a toddler], it was all that I wanted to do,” Sethi said. “I would pretend with spoons.”
Contrary to what one might expect, Sethi’s early experiences with dental care were unpleasant.
“I was scared of the dentist,” Sethi said. “I had terrible teeth. I’d floss, I’d brush, I’d do all that, and I’d still get cavities. I had two root canals at the age of six.”
In addition to the unease induced by the physical pain of a root canal, Sethi also faced ridicule from dental professionals for the condition of her teeth.
“I remember I just had the worst experience,” Sethi said. “[The dentist] would make fun of my teeth in front of me. He one time said to my mom, ‘You should keep your daughter’s teeth like this; I get more business.’”
Soon after, Sethi began going to a new practice and saw what being a dentist could truly mean.
“When I went to a new one [dentist], he was the kindest person I’d ever met,” Sethi said. “Every time he would do something, he would walk me through it….Honestly, for me, he was my biggest inspiration for entering the field.”
Sethi chose to keep in touch with this dentist — Dr. Yee of Miracle Dental Associates — as she grew up and began seeking professional exposure to dentistry.
“Now, I even intern under him; I volunteered under him,” Sethi said. “I still have a relationship with him to this date, even though I don’t go there anymore.”
Throughout high school, Sethi has earned many opportunities similar to this one, which have granted her firsthand looks at the dentistry field. Her dad was often the one to push her to chase after these unique experiences.
“He was always like, ‘Since you already know that you want to go into this field, networking is very important,’” Sethi said. “From this, it has become my motto that ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get.’ Don’t be scared to talk to people. Worst case scenario, they say ‘no.’”
As a junior, Sethi attended Rutgers Decision for Dentistry, and before that, she had spent time shadowing dentists and volunteering.
Now, Sethi works as an intern at a pediatric dental office in Flemington, NJ.
“As an intern, we do marketing, so I’ve been doing TikTok,” Sethi said. “I also do dental assisting, so during procedures, I’ll be handing the doctor the materials. It’s really cool, and it’s really quick when you get into a flow.”
This internship has helped solidify her passion for the field.
“Honestly, I do get paid for it, but I would still do it even if I wasn’t getting paid,” Sethi said.
The experience has also opened her mind to a career in pediatric dentistry, despite it not initially being of interest to her.
“The place I intern at right now is a pediatric dental office, and a lot of the time the kids are screaming,” Sethi said. “But, both the doctors that I work with are just so patient and phenomenal that it’s like, ‘oh, maybe I will go into peds.’”
A career in pediatric dentistry would be a full-circle moment for Sethi, granting her the chance to transform another young kid’s perspective, just like Dr. Yee did for her.
“I always think back to my younger self,” Sethi said. “I feel like a lot of people are scared, and I don’t blame them — I was scared, too.”
