The UFV Pre-Dental Association, although originally founded in 2015, is undergoing a revival by current President Gurneet Sandhu. Both Sandhu and Secretary Jaskiran Chauhan sat down with The Cascade to chat about their journeys to dentistry, their recent dental hygiene kit event, and what the future holds for their association.
As far as origin stories go, both Sandhu and Chauhan’s paths to dentistry began in high school, with both of them expressing how it seemed like a career that could have life-changing effects for patients.
Sandhu was able to job shadow a dentist during high school and found that dentistry combines many disciplines together in a compelling way, but also allows for creativity: “With shadowing the dentist I was able to understand dentistry and get exposed to different procedures and see first hand how a dentist has an impact on someone’s confidence. This really drew me toward the career. It can be creative because to produce the best results a dentist needs to focus on the aesthetic results, not just the procedure that needs to be performed.”
The association has started the semester off strong by recently hosting their dental hygiene kit event where they “created oral hygiene kits that included toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss.” The kits will be donated to the Salvation Army for distribution and will be an addition to the Christmas backpack program. The two executive members emphasized their wish to connect with the local community through this event and to bring an often overlooked form of healthcare in the form of dentistry to those that may not have access to it. They also credited a number of local dental clinics for donating the supplies that created the kits, including Abby Smile Care Centre, Clawson Orthodontics, Novo Dental, Blossom Dental, Fort Langley Dental Office, and Summit Denture Clinic.
Regarding what’s coming up for the Pre-Dental Association, they are looking to host a clay sculpting event toward the end of November.
“We plan to host a manual dexterity skill event in collaboration with a local dentist, as manual dexterity is an important skill that will be learned in dental school,” said Sandhu.
The association will be holding regular monthly meetings starting in the Winter semester where they plan to “discuss the different aspects of the dental school application — from the DAT (Dental Aptitude Test) [to] mock interviews,” according to Sandhu. Sandhu also spoke about wanting the association to not just provide a social aspect for members, but also to focus on strengthening each other’s application to dental school by hosting “important and relevant events surrounding admissions.”
As for what Chauhan would say to interested but hesitant students: “You won’t know if something is for you until you try it out and participate! We are very welcoming and always love to have members join even if they are not interested in dentistry.” Gurneet followed this up with the idea of exposing yourself to as many careers as possible during university so you can learn what you truly want to pursue.
Interested members can keep up with the Pre-Dental Association on their main social platform, Instagram, at @ufvpredental, reach out to ufvpredentalassociation@gmail.com, or check their regularly updated myCampusLife page.
Image: Harwinder Singh
Chandy is a biology major/chemistry minor who's been a staff writer, Arts editor, and Managing Editor at The Cascade. She began writing in elementary school when she produced Tamagotchi fanfiction to show her peers at school -- she now lives in fear that this may have been her creative peak.