Zoe Howard
Staff Writer
Junior Brian Castañeda is pursuing a career in dentistry one smile at a time.
Castañeda took classes at the Southern California Regional Occupational Center (SCROC) in January of last year to get more experience in the field of dentistry. Currently, he is working as a dental assistant at Cerritos Dental Spa and Ismile Dental Group.
“I wasn’t really into anything dentistry related until I was about 15,” Castañeda said. “Being a dental assistant is amazing, and I love it.”
Castañeda first became interested in dentistry when he volunteered to work with special needs children. Castañeda met a girl who would never smile, but after going to the dentist and getting their teeth fixed, she could not stop smiling, Castañeda said. Understanding what a dentist can do for people is what first got him interested in dentistry, according to Castañeda.
“When they leave with a smile that’s my favorite part,” Castañeda said. “We’ve had patients come in with chipped teeth and once we are able to restore that, they see their perfect smile [and it] makes them feel confident.”
After Castañeda’s life-changing volunteer experience, he had his first hands-on experience in a dentist office at 15 years old.
“[For people interested in getting experience in dentistry I suggest] first, make sure it’s what you want to do,” Castañeda said. “Classes aren’t really that hard to do and [I recommend to] just do lots of research to look for certain classes you want to take.”
At SCROC, Castañeda took a dentistry assisting course and graduated at the top of his class. The class taught entry-level skills in chair-side assistance, laboratory techniques and front office procedures, including an introduction to the computers of a dental office. Students also learned about a variety of different specialties in dentistry such as orthodontics and oral surgery.
“I honestly think that the thing that pushed me to keep working was thinking about all the people that told me you are too young or it is too hard,” Castañeda said. “I want to be the one to prove them wrong and show others nothing is too much or too hard.”
Castañeda’s teacher at SCROC, Dr. Dimaranan, offered him an internship at his dentistry office, which eventually turned into a job working at both of Dr. Dimaranan’s offices. Castañeda started working in April last year and has been working there ever since.
“[My] first day [at Dr. Dimaranan‘s office] was awesome,” Castañeda said. “I remember that there was so much blood and I worked twelve hours my first day. I thought [that this was] always the way it [was] going to be, [but] it wasn’t like this always, it was just my first day.”
Typically Castañeda works on weekends for nine to ten hours, but over the summer he works full time as a dental assistant. At Cerritos Dental Spa and Ismile Dental Group Castañeda helps finish the teeth cleaning of a patient, completes x-rays, sterilizes the equipment and assists Dr. Dimaranan.
“I’ve learned how to handle patients and I’ve also learned many surgical procedures because I want to be a dentist and I want to [eventually become] an oral surgeon,” Castañeda said. “I honestly do look up to [Dr. Dimaranan] a lot because he’s accomplished so much at such a young age and he inspires me to be better and hopefully become as successful as him.”
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