1186. A Day in the Life: What's It Really Like to Be an Orthodontist?

“I love dentistry. I love working with my hands. It’s quite artistic and very challenging. It also requires you to have a lot of compassion and good communication skills. I felt it tapped into a lot of things that I was gifted with.

“The reason I went into dentistry was to become an orthodontist. My siblings and I all had braces. We had terrible crooked teeth. What the orthodontist did for me was really life changing. It gave me a lot of confidence. It gave me the ability to smile, to show up, and to speak my mind without fear or self-consciousness. I thought this was an amazing thing to do for people, and that’s what I chose.

“Orthodontics is an amazing profession. It is possibly the best area of dentistry. I’m biased, but I absolutely adore what I do. I feel like I change people’s lives on a daily basis. I get to interact with people of all ages, but especially young people, which is invigorating and rejuvenating. And I get to problem solve and use my mind. That is just a beautiful way to spend each day.”

Sonia Palleck was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She went to school at Western in London, Ontario and graduated from Dentistry in ’93 and Orthodontics in ’99. She pioneered the use of digital orthodontics in practice and has lectured all over the world to share her knowledge with others.

Sonia has written the “Leave the Little Light On” book series, designing and painting all the book covers, and editing and self-publishing her contribution to the world. Through these books she is a special advocate for love.