PAGD Keystone Explorer Winter 2019 20

14 www.pagd.org My name is Jose Mejia Zepeda, also known as Jose Z. Mejia in the U.S.A. I was born in Queretaro, Mexico on February 13, 1977. I attended the School of Dentistry at the Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro, Queretaro, Mexico from 2000–2005. I came to the United States in 2009 with very little expectation of continuing dental practice. From 2009–2016 I’ve had many diverse jobs: selling personal care products on the street, cashier, cook, and waiter at restaurants, sales representative for a dental supply company, and management at a music store. My journey back into dentistry started in 2014, when an acquaintance introduced me to Dr. Francisco Ramos-Gomez from UCLA. He was instrumental in me getting back into dentistry. He used to tell me: “You are wasting your talent at the music store. You can do something significant for people’s health and you can be an example for others to follow. It’s your ethical responsibility.” I was uncertain about it; I was 37 years old, I was comfortable doing what I loved to do and, the path to licensure in the USA seemed too costly and complicated. After careful consideration, my family and I decided to bet on Dr. Ramos-Gomez’s recommendation and began the application process to the Advanced Clinical Training in Restorative Dentistry at UCLA, thinking that it would catapult me into the Advanced Dental Program for International Dentists. I was accepted into the 2-year program in February of 2015. While being in the program, I encountered people who were extremely talented and committed to excellence in dentistry, such as Dr. Richard G. Stevenson III. He took me under his wing as his mentee and taught me what dentistry is all about. I am forever amazed at his ability to teach and I am thankful for the way he comes alongside his students and raises them to a level of quality that I didn’t know was possible. Some of the differences I experienced between dental school in Mexico and the advanced clinical training at UCLA were, to begin with, the vast access to the latest technology, techniques, information, and materials available at UCLA. While both institutions encouraged a focus on quality, the ACT program is at a postgraduate level, taking the practice of dentistry a step further in knowledge, understanding, and execution. During the two-year program, I attended the American Association of Operative Dentistry meeting in Chicago twice, learning about a level of dentistry I only observed in books. There are very talented professionals in both countries, but the exposure I got to Mi Aventura “Some of the differences I experienced between dental school in Mexico and the advanced clinical training at UCLA were, to begin with, the vast access to the latest technology, techniques, information, and materials available at UCLA.” Q dentistry issues