hanks for taking the time to speak with us, Dr. Zakhar. Let’s kick things off by talking a little bit about what led you down the path to dentistry and then orthodontics specifically.
Thanks for having me. When I was a little kid, I liked science a lot. I was always collecting rocks, bugs, and things, and my parents put me in a science camp. It was actually there that I discovered that I wanted to do something medical or dental when I grew up. As far as becoming an orthodontist, when I first got braces, I didn’t really think much about it, but it was when I returned to my orthodontist in Chesterton, Indiana, that I fell in love with dentistry. Maybe this is because my parents worked in the body shop build business, so I worked on cars a lot growing up. Add my passion for science and putting things together and combine the two interests and you have many of the core elements of orthodontics.
It sounds like dentistry and orthodontics were areas of interest pretty early on in your life.
Yes, I would say so, especially as it had a biology/biomechanics focus, which I really liked. And I honestly never looked back. I knew I was going to dental school, and I knew I didn't want to do general dentistry and that I wanted to do orthodontics. Once I got into dental school, I realized that I actually liked all aspects of dentistry, but I encouraged myself to stick to my original plan, my original path. And I'm happy I did it because it's been great so far.
For our own education, can you tell us a bit about the differences between the steps you take to become an orthodontist vs a general dentist? Is it a different track that you take, or do you have to take a fellowship after regular dental school?
Happy to. If you are going to specialize in orthodontics, your education won’t end after four years. Over the course of your studies, you have to maintain all your A's and be involved in everything, like make your list look really good, and the in your third year you apply to residency, some are two years, some are three years, and then you continue with your education the whole time. This all depends, of course, on the school you get into. It's really a match process just like it is for medical school. So basically, you rank them, they are ranking you and then you see where you end up. In my instance, I went to Indiana for everything undergraduate, dental school and then my residency was there too.
You spent a lot of your time in Indiana throughout your childhood and your 20s. Why did you choose to move down to Savannah and at one point join Savannah Smiles Youth Dentistry & Braces?
Initially I came down here years ago to Hilton Head for a vacation, which is only an hour away and I realized I just loved it. It was beautiful weather. I loved all the trees. It reminded me of home but with a warmer climate because I grew up right on Lake Michigan, which was like an ocean for us. And when I came down here, I really liked it, really liked the climate and I was growing tired of winters and was looking for somewhere warm. And once I arrived, I found Savannah Smiles Youth Dentistry & Braces.
What attracted you to Savannah Smiles Youth Dentistry & Braces originally?
I really liked Savannah Smiles Youth Dentistry & Braces as it provided me with an opportunity to give back to my community and I was drawn to the organization’s motto of serving the underserved. Overall, it’s been really great so far, I’m so happy I made the move, physically and professionally.
Can we talk a little bit more about the practice’s mission and how that is specific to orthodontics given the patient population that we serve? How do you see that translating into your day-to-day work with the patients with and getting them involved in orthodontics?
We see a lot of Medicaid patients on the general dentistry side but we actually don’t work with the program on the orthodontic side. That said, our cost is less expensive than other options. It’s pretty exciting when we talk to families about orthodontics costs for treatments they might have pushed off as they were too expensive and now, they realize they may be able to actually afford the monthly payments. It’s been very rewarding to see these kids light up with joy because they're so excited that they're finally getting braces and fixing their teeth issues. It feels good that you're helping everybody out. And so that's been really cool.
When people think of orthodontics they immediately think of improving smiles but there's actually a lot of clinical reasons why you need to pay attention to that aspect of your mouth. It's not just a visual thing. Can you tell me a little bit about that piece of orthodontics?
Actually, that's been interesting. So often when I ask someone if they want braces they say yes, because they want to change the colors on their teeth. I always let them know that there's a lot more to it than just colors on the brackets, so I get to explain to the patient why we want orthodontics beyond fashion. It’s because we want to fix something. Often, we see patients where there's so much crowding their teeth can't even come together or there's impacted teeth or we need some growth of the jaw so that we can get classical occlusion. We see a lot of cross bites for example. I’ve been working with a general dentist, and we are working together to identify what should be fixed with orthodontics early on so that the patient’s teeth can grow in properly. That’s been very interesting as I feel like I'm teaching.
Can you share a patient story or an inspiring moment that truly speaks to the work you do each day?
We just had a patient here this morning that was basically in tears because she was so excited that she got her braces on because there were some obvious things to correct that she was getting bullied for at school. And as soon as we put him on, she was so excited just that change was coming and that was pretty awesome. It was really good feeling for all of us in the room. Orthodontics is a long journey; things can’t be fixed overnight. It can take a good two years to get everything done, but they just get so excited as soon as those colors come on and they're like, “wow, it's actually happening.” That's been really great.
What advice would you give to someone considering becoming a dentist or an orthodontist?
It’s a very rewarding profession but it definitely comes with delayed gratification and sometimes you lose sight of that on the way. You are going to undergrad for four years, dental school for four years and have an ortho residency for two or three, so patience is worth the long haul. During the process, make as many friends as you can and try to enjoy it because once you get there, it's amazing. You get an opportunity to enjoy what you do and the impact you are able to have, which you don’t get to hear very often.
Shoot your shot. Apply to dental schools, apply to medical schools. Just do it! Because now I can sit here and it comforts me knowing that I went as high as I could and I don't have to regret that I should have done something else.
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