UC Clermont helps international dental student on path to aid others

Krishma Patel was 12 years old in her native West India when a toothache led her to a village elder, who offered folk medicine as a cure.

“She put a straw in my ear to fix my tooth,” Patel says. “I knew that wouldn’t work.”

Patel was lucky; her parents had the means to locate a real dentist, who performed a root canal. She knew even as a child that many of her neighbors did not have the means or ability to access dental care.

“I decided that I wanted to be a dentist and help others,” Patel says. “The mouth is a mirror of your body. Symptoms of diseases often show up there first, so oral health is a crucial component of overall health.”

Patel earned her dental degree in India before meeting her husband, who finished his information technology degree at the University of Cincinnati. The couple returned to Cincinnati in 2014 for his career. Patel found that her dental degree was not valid in the United States and faced the prospect, at age 26, of starting her college education over again. Having settled in Amelia, Ohio, Patel looked for something close by — and found UC Clermont College in Batavia.

“It was close, affordable, and I was drawn to the small campus,” Patel says. “I like when my professors know my name.”

While Patel was taught English throughout her boarding school years in India, she says the friendly environment of UC Clermont helped with remaining language barriers, and she quickly got to know her professors and classmates. Patel even became a Student Ambassador, representing the college by giving prospective students tours of campus. “I wanted to show people, no matter their age, that it wasn’t too late to go to school,” says Patel. “I was a living example that anyone can do it.”

Patel was able to transfer some credits from India and finished nearly all of her pre-requisite classes for dental school at UC Clermont, completing the remainder on UC’s Uptown Campus. Organic chemistry Professor Bozena Barbara Widanski even helped Patel prepare for the Dental Admission Test (DAT).

The hard work paid off: Patel graduated from UC Clermont with an associate degree in biological sciences in fall 2018 and was recently accepted into Ohio State University’s College of Dentistry, where she will begin classes in fall 2019. By the time she completes the four-year program, Patel, now 30, will have spent a decade studying to become a dentist. She plans to work in periodontics, focusing on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of gum disease.

“I know it will all be worth it,” Patel says. “The payoff is being able to help others in the end.”