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L to r: Rohan Sethi, Jade Ley, Vanessa Dairo-Singerr, Raksha Sagar, and Abhishek Nandavar (Photos courtesy of the QEII Foundation)

"We have learned that when we do things together, we succeed," says Raksha Sagar, a Doctor of Dental Surgery Qualifying Program (QP) student at Dalhousie University. She is referring to the many challenges she and her husband Abhishek Nandavar, also a dentistry student at Dal, have faced since they first met in Bangalore, India, in 2008: studying for exams, emigrating to Canada, applying to requalify as dentists in Canada, and, most recently, successfully applying for QEII Foundation Diversity in Health Care Bursaries.
 
Sagar and Nandavar are two of the five Faculty of Dentistry students – and the first married couple – to receive the $2000 bursaries from the QEII Foundation. The other recipients are Vanessa Dairo-Singerr, Jade Ley, and Rohan Sethi (for a second time). The awards were presented in September 2024.
 
When they met as undergraduate dentistry students in Bangalore, moving to Canada was not part of the plan for either Sagar or Nandavar.  They were both intent on specializing, Nandavar in oral and maxillofacial surgery, and Sagar in endodontics. But when Sagar’s sister moved to Canada, things changed. "She told us there were good prospects for dentists in Canada," says Sagar, "so we started to think about it."
 
Then, at an international conference, Nandavar met Dr. Deepak Krishnan, chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Cincinnati. He completed an OMFS fellowship at Dalhousie in 2007-8 and spoke highly of the program to Nandavar.
 
Whenever we got an opportunity, we grabbed it
In short order, Sagar and Nandavar were married, successfully applied for permanent residency, and arrived in Ontario in 2020 where they initially lived with Sagar’s sister. They did "did all the jobs, like Amazon and Uber," saved their money, and successfully sat their Assessment of Fundamental Knowledge (AFK) exam. "It was hard work," says Sagar, "but we didn’t struggle at all because we studied together."
 
At first, it looked like Nandavar would be at Dal and Sagar at Western Schulich and they wondered how they would manage financially. But then Sagar received a welcome phone call from Dal, offering her a place on the QP program.
 
Different in Canada
Sagar and Nandavar find dentistry to be different in Canada, but they like that. "In India, we concentrate on the treatment, not the patient," says Nandavar. "There is no dental insurance in India, so the patients are usually in pain, and we have to be quick when we treat them – up to 50 patients a day."
 
At Dal, they enjoy building rapport with their patients and learning their medical histories. They are also pleased to be working toward a DDS degree, which gives them opportunities for the future in Canada, including specializing.
 
A background in community service as dentistry students in India helped them to be successful in their applications for the bursaries, they feel. Sagar provided care in a prison and on a mobile van, while Nandavar participated in a 24-hour denture-making camp in a small village. They also visited seniors’ accommodation and orphanages. So, it’s not surprising to learn that they enjoy treating patients at the Faculty’s outreach clinics.
 
The path to dentistry
Vanessa Dairo-Singerr (DDS3) was born in Nigeria, moved to Ireland, and then to Fredericton, NB, with her parents and four siblings when she was in middle school.
 
"In Nigeria, there is not a lot of education surrounding oral health," she says. "So the first time we all went to the dentist was in Ireland." After receiving orthodontic treatment during middle school, Dairo-Singerr had her sights set on a career in dentistry, which influenced her decision to study medicinal chemistry at the University of New Brunswick.
 
Reading about previous students who have received QEII Foundation Diversity in Health Care bursaries inspired Dairo-Singerr to apply for one herself. 

"I saw first-hand how my parents struggled with both awareness and availability of oral health care," she explains. "That inspired me to pursue a career in dentistry, with an interest in advocating for greater access to care in underserved communities."
 
Dairo-Singerr enjoys seeing the difference oral health care can make for the populations served by the Faculty of Dentistry’s outreach clinics. That inspires her be involved in initiatives to encourage more diversity in oral health and better access to care for patients with special needs.
 
Jade Ley (DDS3) is from Bridgewater, NS, and studied medical sciences at Dal with a minor in piano. She has played the piano since she was four but knew that she didn’t want to turn it into a career. Like Dairo-Singerr, she had a lot of dental work during her childhood, including several extractions. The dental professionals she saw always made her feel comfortable as a patient, so when it came time to choose a career path, Ley found that she "always kept coming back to dentistry."
 
She says that applying for the bursary "made me reflect on why I decided to do dentistry in the first place and how I’ll make a difference in the community – and why that’s important to me."
 
Ley also says that the bursary "validates" the hard work involved in earning her degree and getting into dental school. "As a first-generation university student," she says, "I hope others in a similar position can see themselves in me and realize that achieving this is possible."
 
Rohan Sethi (DDS4) is a second-time QEII Foundation Diversity in Health Care bursary recipient. He studied dentistry at the University of Delhi and then specialized in periodontics at the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences.
 
After three years at Dalhousie, Sethi says that Canada has become home. So he plans to look for work in the Halifax area or within the Maritimes after he graduates. He appreciates the bursary on many different levels. The money helps to provide "mental peace," he says, while the presentation ceremony gave him a sense of community, helping him to feel that "others are going through the same struggles."
 
All the bursary recipients spoke of the high cost of rent and groceries and how the bursary helps to reduce the financial pressure they all feel. But it is about far more than the money.
 
For Dairo-Singerr, receiving the bursary was about "being part of an organization that supports representation and diversity in the field of health care." She hopes that others may be able to see themselves in her and choose similar paths in health care.
 
Ley was also attracted by what the award represents. "This bursary celebrates Nova Scotian communities that have diverse and inclusive workforces," she says. "I wanted to be part of that."
 
Sagar and Nandavar say they were delighted to discover a bursary "for people like us." It makes them feel more included and more "seen."  The bursary has also inspired them. "Our aim is to be future donors to the QEII Foundation," they say. "We want to be part of donations, because we know how difficult this process is."