Oyinda Emuleomo

I had a mentor in high school named Charles who is currently deceased now, and he gave me this motto that I go by: do it because you want to do it, not because everyone's telling you to. It kind of sounds basic, but it really stuck to me. I shouldn't do things because it looks good, or because someone told me to do it because it looks good. I'm doing what I'm doing because I want to do it, and I want to inspire others. That advice has shaped how I approach everything in my life and career.

Something I would say to the future generation that wants to be a hygienist, or even a dentist, or any part in the dental field would be: don't do it for the money, do it because you want to do it. Because dentistry, in my opinion, is quite overlooked. A lot of people in America are afraid to go to the dentist. They think that they're gonna steal your money or damage your teeth, but that's not the case at all. We are here to help you, and I just want people that want to be dentists to have the desire and the passion to help people, just to help them and not do it because of the paycheck.

Most of the challenges that I'm seeing are with the patients that don't like the dentist. We're dentists, and we're here to do one purpose, to help you and to reach your healthy well-being. The reason why people don't really want to go to the dentist is they think we might do something to them, and that's really a struggle that we have. We have a bad light shining on us, and we have a bad rap, and I really want to squash that rap and prove that dentists are good people. In the nonprofit world, the challenge is that it's a nonprofit business so you don't get funding for any of it. People usually go into the nonprofit industry wanting to get some recognition for it or get some money for it, but in all seriousness, you're probably not unless you get donations. I think people try to start a nonprofit because it looks good, but they're not really in it for the long term.