A Childhood Incident, and Desire to Help Others, Helps Guide Student Toward Dentistry

My path to choosing dentistry is something I look back on with fondness. My name is Chinedu Ahanonu and I am the first-born son to Nigerian and Vietnamese immigrants. Growing up, our family joke was always that my two brothers and I were to be, “lawyers, doctors, or engineers.” To us, it may have been a joke that was semi-joking, semi-serious, but it was something that inspired my brothers and I. While I wanted to be a lawyer when I was about 12 or 13, I realized how much lawyers have to read and I decided that it was not for me. I completed my undergraduate education at Southern Utah University, and early on I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. But I knew 3 things: I liked helping people, I liked working with my hands, and I was interested in the sciences. As I thought about my life, I realized I always loved going to the dentist, and this career was something that had a lot of upsides for me. I have always had good experiences going to dentists. I loved getting my teeth cleaned and didn’t really mind getting cavities filled. I remember one experience that really started my love for dentistry and dentists. I was climbing up a slide as a 3rd grader during recess one rainy day (not the smartest decision, I know), and I slipped. When I slammed my face against the hard plastic, I broke my right maxillary central incisor right in half. Through the tears and pain, I was able to find my tooth and the office called my mom. She rushed me too the dentists and he was able to bond my tooth together, and while I have had some endodontic and cosmetic treatment on that tooth, most of that tooth is still my own permanent dentition. I will forever be grateful for that dentist and that experience.  

Once I decided I wanted to be a dentist the next decision was where? As a kid from Utah, I wanted to stay at home near my family, but things didn’t work out that way on decision day as I was waitlisted. My wife, Mackenzie, and I went through our different options at other schools and decided to go to Louisville. We were extremely excited and my wife got into her graduate program until I got a call on April 1, 2021, that I was accepted to Utah. The decision to switch was very quick once we got that call. Being here at this great institution allows me many things. 1) I get to be near family, something that is extremely important to me. 2) I can learn from wonderful faculty in a growing institution. 3) I can be a groundbreaker, as one of the first black students at this dental school I hope to be a catalyst for growth and change. 4) Possibly the most important, I get to be able to fulfil my dream of becoming a dentist, while serving a wonderful client base here in the Salt Lake City area. I am happy to be where I am at here at the University of Utah and am grateful for the opportunity I to learn and grow.