CDM Class of 2019: Bobby Chacon
Bobby Chacon started telling people he wanted to be a dentist when most kids that age aspire to careers as fire fighters or astronauts. Credit the professional example set by a revered parent. Ultimately, however, it was lab mice that propelled Chacon to earn his own DDS. From 2012–2015, he managed a research lab at Stanford University, investigating tissue regeneration. “The research was pertinent,” he says, “but I found myself really enjoying doing the surgeries.”
Chacon enrolled at Columbia, intent on a career in oral surgery, and he was relentless in his first-year studies. Then a cab knocked him from his bike as he commuted home from the CDM lab where he was doing research on periodontal ligament stem cells. The experience was transformative. “I realized that if I had died,” he says, “I would really be disappointed with how I had lived my life the past year.”
How did you change things up?
While I was recovering, I got into running and soon after, ran my first marathon. As in dentistry, you need balance. You have to train hard, but you also have to take the time to step away, allow your body to heal.
How has your pursuit of balance affected your career trajectory?
I realized that through general dentistry, I can bridge the artistic side of myself with the desire to do a procedure or operation. General dentistry checks the most boxes for me, being able to enjoy my life and have enough time to come back and feel a true appreciation for the work.
How did clinical training alter your approach to patients?
One of my first patients hadn’t seen a dentist in many years, due to her anxiety. I did my best to listen, share that I also suffer from anxiety, help her to be comfortable. After a few visits, she started saying, “Thank you, my son.” Eventually, she told me that her son was my age. Two years earlier he had been killed in a hit-and-run. Sometimes as dentists, we focus on smile reconstruction. She taught me that being emotionally available can also be really important.
How have you embraced the art and science of dentistry?
During my third year, I was working with different faculty, getting different perspectives. Then I started doing a lot of prosthodontics and working with Dr. M, almost exclusively. She would ask for my rationale for an approach, its benefit, the alternatives. If we didn’t know, she wouldn’t tell us—we had to go look it up ourselves. Dr. M made sure we were not just following instructions, but knew the rationale. I started synthesizing my knowledge into something coherent and I started becoming very confident. Working with her forced me to be on my toes all the time, and I started to really enjoy the dentistry.
What would you tell future students?
It’s OK to have an opinion in the clinic. Columbia does a great job making sure that treatment is based on evidence, but also there are nuances in dentistry that exist because everyone is different. Listen to what others have to say, but don’t be afraid to voice your opinion of why or why not you would do something. If you have a justification of why something is better for a patient, don’t be afraid to make that judgment call.