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On Thursday, July 10, the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine (SIU SDM) students, faculty, staff and administrators hosted a Dentistry Day for student participants in the BESt Healthcare Institute 2025 Summer Program. The Institute, a four-week summer intensive for area high school students interested in healthcare careers, is a collaboration between Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Express Scripts, Inc. and Washington University in St. Louis. This is SIU SDM’s second year offering an immersive experience in dentistry, by presenting a full day of interactive presentations, panels, hands-on learning, lunch and a campus tour.

Thirty high school students began their visit with a welcome from SIU SDM Dean Saulius Drukteinis, DMD, MS, PhD, accompanied by members of faculty, staff and SDM students who volunteered their time.

"We were delighted to have the opportunity to expose high school seniors in the BESt Summer Health Care Institute program to careers in dentistry on the SIU School of Dental Medicine campus,” said Drukteinis. “We are also grateful to the BESt Summer Healthcare Institute leadership as well as Dr. Nathalia Garcia and faculty and students who helped to create this engaging and informative opportunity."

“Our goal is to provide these students with valuable insights and hands-on experiences that highlight the opportunities and rewards of pursuing a career in dental health,” said Nathalia Garcia, DDS, MS, professor and Assistant Dean for Career Development who helped facilitate SIU SDM’s participation in the mission to introduce local high school students from multicultural backgrounds to careers in dentistry and oral health care.  
 
BESt students received valuable insights from Angela Pritchett, Director of Admissions and Student Services. Garcia and a panel of dental and pre-dental students along with a dental hygienist assured the high school students that they belonged in the profession.  
 
“One of our dental students shared that she never thought she was good enough for dentistry until a college professor told her, ‘Oh, you have a lot of talent to become a doctor.’ That moment made her believe she could pursue the profession, because somebody believed in her potential. Sometimes, all it takes is someone to see something in you. That is why mentoring is important at every stage--starting now and continuing throughout our careers,” said Garcia. 
 
D2 student Carrington Newsome added, “There’s traditional versus non-traditional. Some people go to dental school after they have a family and some people don’t. Everybody’s origin story—everybody's journey is different.” 
 
Newsome took an interest in dentistry at a young age during visits to the orthodontist for her braces. Her parents helped her get involved in learning more.  
 
“I like investing in programs like this because I was invested into,” said Newsome. “This is what my parents had me involved in growing up. And I always remember listening to the people who were talking on panels.”  
 
Both Newsome and D3 student A’lonn Love cite the small percentage of Black dentists in the United States as a motivator for introducing high school students to the profession.  
 
According to The Journal of the American Dental Association, in the year 2020 the number of Black dentists reached 5,039, equivalent to 3.8% of U.S. dentists.

“I knew I wanted to go to dental school when I was 16,” said Love. “I knew I wanted to go there, but I didn’t know how to get there.” Love said he reached out to a Black dentist and asked what he needed to do. In turn, the dentist became Love’s mentor and was willing to help.  
 
As for the low number of student applicants from the Black community, Love said, “I think it’s just the lack of resources or just not enough help. They may not know how to reach someone or just are afraid to do it. What I want to emphasize is it’s OK to not know everything and you can go out there and ask for help.” 
 
Love is a student ambassador and a member of American Student Dental Association (ASDA), Student National Dental Association (SNDA), and the student chapter of the Hispanic Dental Association. He and fellow student volunteers like Student Body President Nick Yuhas and D4 student Brooke Shoemaker, stress the importance and capability of pursuing leadership roles while in school. 
 
“As part of the first year we do student council elections and that was my first exposure to the ADEA. They presented on what we get to be a part of and what we do for Impressions Day and curriculum committee, and that was just right up my alley,” said Shoemaker, who was elected as a student representative and now serves as president of the SIU SDM American Dental Association (ADEA) student chapter. Leaders of this student chapter--Shoemaker, D3 student Nathan Carmichael and D2 student Emily Cretors—were instrumental in organizing and planning the logistics and student engagement in the day’s events.

“I thought dental school was going to be like you're just scraping by, barely surviving academically as possible, but I packed my schedule with so many leadership positions and extracurriculars and still managed to get good grades and still have a life. You have more time on your hands than you’d believe,” said Yuhas.

Students explored dental anatomy and physiology with radiographic images and skeletons under the guidance of SIU SDM’s Head of Anatomy, Kathryn Carter, MS, Debra Dixon, DMD, MSC, Section Head of Radiology, Alicia DeMaria, PhD, Section Head of Histology and Oral Biology, as well as SIU SDM dental students.

“They got to see and feel human skulls that we have on campus and ask about different parts of the skull,” said D3 student Emily Bone. “They got to compete against each other in an online quiz. I think it’s important to be those teachers and inspire them to pursue their dreams. We all had people who got us where we are today.”

Bone told her dentist she wanted to be a dentist when she was just three years old. “It just made sense. The dentists are the ones who take care of you throughout your whole life. You see them more than your own pediatrician.”

During the afternoon session the high school students performed hands-on exercises in the School’s John and Anna Markarian Simulation Lab, which opened in 2014. Carmichael helped coordinate the hands-on dental workshop, which included cavity preparation, fillings, and dental modeling.

“They start out doing some operative experience, drilling plastic teeth and trying different prep designs. They prep, restore and then do an impression for a crown or bridge, and pouring it up in Snap-Stone.”

Carmichael added, “In healthcare, I like that you’re helping someone with a disease or problem, but it’s also an intersection of art and aesthetics. So, in dentistry you have to take care of the disease and make something look good, make something someone’s proud of.”

High school student Paul Brown, a rising senior at Parkway Central in St. Louis, wants to pursue dermatology and was pleasantly surprised with the hands-on experience in dentistry. “I think I’m pretty good at filling cavities so this might be an option.”

“My day so far has been really, really fun. I’ve been on the fence about pediatrics and dentistry so I might combine them both,” said Tracy Machuki, a senior at Pattonville High School. “If this is what a day in the hand-on classroom is like, then I might do both.”

Ava Tobias, a senior at Incarnate Word Academy, noted, “I’ve always had a thing for medicine since I was really young.”

Tobias said she was inspired by television shows like “Doc McStuffins.” With dentistry, she said, “I like how delicate it is. And the type of interaction you’re having with patients—dentistry is more positive than not.”

The day wrapped up with the School’s dental students leading trivia games on the topic of oral health and gifting oral hygiene products and SIU SDM swag as prizes.

“There are no barriers. The sky is the limit,” said Garcia. “You can do whatever you want if you have passion and determination to do it.”

The SIU SMD collaboration with BESt Health Care Summer Institute was established to encourage dentistry as a career path within the healthcare professions. The partnership aims to offer high school students with essential resources and mentorship, fostering their interest in and pursuit of dental careers.

The SIU School of Dental Medicine (SIU SDM) students, residents, faculty and staff manage approximately 30,000 patient visits each year at its patient clinics in Alton, East St. Louis and Edwardsville. These patient care experiences provide students, residents and fellows with the training they need to graduate and become highly skilled dentists and specialists. The School of Dental Medicine is a vital oral health care provider for dental patients in southern and central Illinois, as well as the St. Louis metropolitan region. SIU SDM provides a dental home for approximately 10,000 active patients in any given year.

Photos by Howard Ash