Shortly after their convocation Friday (May 29), Lina Hachemi and Matt Kelvey will start to ready themselves for their postings in the dental units at CFB Kingston (Ontario) and CFB Gagetown (New Brunswick) where they will begin their careers as military dentists.
Both Hachemi and Kelvey had long and winding roads into both dentistry and the military. Kelvey is from Dartmouth, studied at Prince Andrew High School, and came to Dalhousie University to study medical sciences. Midway through, he took a gap year to travel in Alberta, New Zealand, and Nepal, working as an au pair.
When he completed his BSc, Kelvey applied to study both medicine and dentistry and was interviewed for both programs. The interviews did not go well and he wasn’t offered a place on either program, but he knew what he needed to do.
There is a lot of problem solving, interacting with people, and dealing with stressful situations in both jobs.
Undaunted, Kelvey set about gaining more interview experience through a variety of jobs, including stints as a physio assistant, teaching assistant for first-year physiology, and patient-care assistant at the hospitals. He also became a non-commissioned member of the Canadian Armed Forces infantry. In the same year, he was accepted into the Halifax Police training program, which guaranteed a job on completion.
- Every graduate has a story. This is one of them. Follow along as we share more each day throughout Spring Convocation.
Even though his life was already busy, Kelvey decided to reapply to dentistry. The interview went “so much better,” thanks to the job experience he had gained, and he was offered a place. The only complication was that he was two months into his police training and enjoying it. But a deferral was granted and Kelvey completed his training and spent more than half a year working with the police before starting his dentistry degree program.
Kelvey enjoyed his time in the police force and likens it to being a dentist in many ways. “Every day is different,” he explains. “There is a lot of problem solving, interacting with people, and dealing with stressful situations in both jobs.”
Both occupations had their attractions, but dentistry won out in the end. Policing can be hard on your head and your body, Kelvey says, and the shift work hours were challenging for him, a self-confessed morning person.
Kelvey applied to the Dental Officer Training Program (DOTP) with the military and was accepted in his second year of dentistry, becoming a full-time regular forces member. “At that point, they cover the cost of tuition and provide a bit of a salary, plus a living subsidy to cover rent,” he says.
Building a career on cavities
In the fourth year of her Bachelor of Health Sciences degree at the University of Ottawa, Lina Hachemi realized she had dental insurance and visited the dentist after a long gap. “When you have an immigrant upbringing, the priority is never a $200 filling,” she explains. “So I needed 13 fillings and a root canal.” The many appointments that followed helped to steer Hachemi into dental school.
When you have an immigrant upbringing, the priority is never a $200 filling.
Hachemi admits that she was unsure where her undergrad degree would take her and her GPA reflected her lack of focus. But when she determined that dentistry was the profession for her, she began the process to gain the prerequisites and the grades she needed, including shadowing dentists in Ottawa and completing a second degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at Trent. “I really discovered my love of learning there,” she says, and she gained valuable people skills while working at a community helpline.
In the year between her first unsuccessful application to Dal and her second successful one, Hachemi worked for Health Canada in Ottawa and created a vision board for herself that contained all her goals. Included was a 2019 article about three Dalhousie dentistry students who had gone through their academic programs as members of the Canadian military.
The spark for her interest in the military was none other than the chief dental officer of Canada, Dr. James Taylor, whom she met when they worked in the same building in Ottawa one summer. Not only did Dr. Taylor tell her about working in the dental unit in Afghanistan, he talked about providing dental outreach there.
“A lightbulb went off in my head,” says Hachemi. “For the first time I saw dentistry as a force for good in the community, not just a career. Volunteering and community work have been important to me since I was a kid.”
Like Kelvey, Hachemi applied to the Dental Officer Training Program and was accepted for the second year of the dentistry program. As a Muslim woman who wears a hijab and is originally from Algeria, Hachemi wondered how she would be received in the military. “In my head, I was basically going into an area where people would hate me,” she says.
But she found herself well supported. There was even halal food in the meal hall.
The next step
Both Kelvey and Hachemi have fitted basic training into their summers and spent time shadowing dental specialists at their respective bases in Halifax and Ottawa. Kelvey says that after second year of dental school, there were opportunities to do fillings and exams on patients under supervision. He was also able work as part of a Dal research project on interoperative steroid doses, which meshed well with his interest in oral surgery, and train for an Iron Man competition.
Hachemi’s on-the-job-experience at the base last summer provided her with plenty of valuable experience, particularly in filling teeth, which counted toward her dentistry school requirements.
Kelvey and Hachemi are positive about the benefits their commitment to the military is providing. The biggest of which is that they are not burdened with a high level of debt, unlike many of their classmates.
The day I put on my uniform, I saw the patch of the Canadian flag on my arm and I felt transformed.
Kelvey points out that the position with the military is salary-based and provides a regular schedule, plus benefits and a pension. In addition, “everyone you treat on the base also has medical benefits, which is a huge positive”. There are other activities to participate in and learn, such as skydiving, diving, and playing on sports teams. Continuing education is also provided.
For Hachemi, the significance of her new role as a military dentist was encapsulated in a single moment. “The day I put on my uniform I saw the patch of the Canadian flag on my arm and I felt transformed. I think it was my first moment of true belonging because I felt like I had a role, and that role is this country.”