By the end of the day on June 3, 2015, my mind was set on my future. As a soon to be junior in high-school, I decided I wanted to become an oral surgeon. I was torn between a few careers, but after many hours, I knew oral surgery was my path.

The first day of summer I woke up at 6 AM and got dressed in scrubs. My dad and I had planned that I was going to shadow him for an entire day at his Rockford office. When we got there that morning, I was exhausted. This day just happened to be my only day free the entire month of June when my dad’s offices were open. My first day of summer was spent in a dental office. I had zero energy walking through the doors to enter the building. I was unable to show the exhaustion because my dad was the boss and I needed to behave myself, especially if I wanted to work at this office when I finish Dental School. So that morning, I walked in and met his entire staff, they were very bubbly and energetic. My dad had a meeting in the morning with his whole staff to preview their busy day ahead of them. I was in shock with how much they had to do. Finally, my dad dismissed them after the brief meeting and everyone went their separate ways and started working on patients. I followed my dad to his first case, which was a crown.

A crown on a tooth is a small tooth shaped cap that is placed on the tooth to even it out; this prevents having an uneven jaw. I watched my dad put a crown on his patient. It was relatively exciting. I wasn’t amazed by it but I wasn’t distraught from experiencing it. I was neutral about it, indifferent. I didn’t care about it nor did I have any feelings towards it. Once it was done my dad made me watch a couple more then it was onto fillings.
Fillings are a substance (gold, porcelain, etc.) that fill the tooth up and help to prevent further damage to the specific tooth. Watching this left me with zero excitement. After the second filling I watched, I went into the back room and sat on my phone until my dad had a new case for me to see. I hated watching fillings. They were the most uneventful experience I went through that day. While watching fillings, I made a decision that I would be a physical therapist and follow in my cousin’s footsteps- not my dads. I thought about doing fillings and crowns for the rest of my life and I  thought I would never be able to do it. I was upset with my decision to shadow my dad; I still had an entire half of a day to get through and I didn’t even like what I was watching. I contemplated taking the car home but at that point I’d never driven alone on the highway and my dad wouldn’t have another way to get home. I had to stick it out and continue on with the rest of the day.
Finally, lunch came around and we went to Olive Garden. We discussed my career decisions and he asked me what I thought about dentistry. I told him it was okay but I would look into physical therapy more than dentistry. These words shattered him. He believed I would stick to my word and I would not follow in his footsteps. At the end of lunch he was almost positive I was not going to become a dentist. When we left the restaurant, he told me that he only had a few more cases left then we could go home. I decided I would just go through the rest of the day.
This isn’t so bad, at least I know what career path not to choose...

Once we arrived at the office, my dad told me his next case was extractions. The thought of ripping teeth out scared me and I really thought that would be the ultimate case that would make me enter physical therapy. I decided I would sit in and watch because there was nothing else to do there. I walked into the room the patient was in and my dad gave her a brief summary of what he was going to perform and asked her permission if I’d be allowed to sit in and watch the case. Fortunately, she replied back with a yes and I got to watch the greatest dental case my dad had that day. The woman in the chair needed fourteen teeth extracted. Only fourteen teeth were left in her mouth and she wanted dentures. My dad was going to make that dream possible for her. Once the woman, my dad, and his dental assistant were all settled in, he proceeded with the case. First- like all dentists do- he applied an anesthetic gel to her gums. Once this gel kicked in, he used the anesthetic shot and applied the anesthesia throughout the gums. I watched patiently while my dad got his extraction tools ready. My dad entered the mouth first with the drill. He drilled around the first tooth he was extracting, then went to another tool to help him pull the tooth out. My dad wiggled the teeth out as his assistant was ready to pull at the last second. He repeated this entire process fourteen times. Teeth 1 and 2 made my stomach drop. I never felt so sick in my life; I almost threw up in the office. It was one of the scariest sights I’d ever experienced. There was blood. Mass amounts of blood.

I can’t handle this anymore. What do I do. I can’t leave because I’d walk right into the patient or dad or the cart. I can’t do this anymore. I need to go. How do I get out of here. Ugh. The only way out is going in between everyone and getting in the way. Do I just sit then? What do I do..? Oh no, another tooth.

I turned my head away for five minutes. I needed to collect myself. I knew if I freaked out then the patient would be petrified.  After some time in the corner, I finally gathered myself and gained the courage to watch the rest of the extractions. Tooth 7 cracked in half and I watched in awe as my dad took out more elaborate tools. My dad paused. He grabbed the drill. Then went for the tooth. It was amazing but awful at the same time. I wanted to scream but I also wanted to stay in the room. I closed my mouth. I kept it closed.

The tooth wouldn’t come out.

It was stuck in the women’s gums. I didn’t know how my dad was going to pull it out. He kept drilling into her gums. When I finally stopped being scared of the gory scene, I watched closely, within arm's way. I didn’t want to stand any farther. I was having the time of my life. I’d never been so amazed from watching something. As he was extracting the tooth, I felt an adrenaline rush. The only time I’ve ever felt that was when I compete with my team at Nationals. This feeling hit me hard and made me fall in love with oral surgery. Watching the rest of the teeth be extracted was the most exciting thing I have ever watched. At the beginning of the operation I almost passed out; at the end of the operation I was standing as close as possible to the patient without getting in my dad’s way.
When the operation was finished we went outside to the lobby and everyone on staff that day asked me how I felt. I told them about my adrenaline rush and that I was hooked for life on the extractions. They were extremely impressed with my strong emotions towards this case. They all said oral surgery was a possibility in my future. From that day on, I’ve never stopped thinking about these aspirations. Maybe in about 10 years when I’m 27, I’ll be taking out your wisdom teeth.