This article is part of How I Spent My Summer, a series of articles showcasing opportunities Dal students pursued over the past few months — from work-intergrated learning to mini-courses and more. Scroll to the bottom for more articles.
Soheil Ghaffari (BSc’24) had his first day of dentistry school just last week, so it might be surprising to learn he spent the summer working in a dental research lab. But that’s exactly what he did. He feels the experience has set him up well for his current studies and he may even have his name on a publication as a result of his work.
During his undergrad years, Soheil studied medical sciences. His father is a doctor and his uncle is a dentist, and Soheil enjoyed the “science-y” subjects at university, particularly physics. But he also has an artistic side and enjoys painting, wood carving, and music, particularly the piano. He considered both medicine and dentistry as career options and by the third year of his BSc knew his sights were set on dentistry because it brought science and art together.
Researching a researcher
With a plan for his future, Soheil decided he wanted to spend the summer after third year doing dentistry-related research. He started by researching all the labs on the Faculty of Dentistry website.
“That’s how I found Dr. Richard Price,” he says. “His research into the different restorative materials and curing lights appealed to me the most, so I emailed him with my CV.”
Soheil spent that summer working with Dr. Price on analyzing the characteristics of different blue curing lights — the lights used to cure composite fillings. He also conducted his own research project on the fluorescence of different materials and is currently preparing a paper for publication.
For his fourth-year honours project, Soheil opted to study the properties and benefits of new red and infrared curing lights that are now appearing on the market. “The main point of our research was to conduct tests to verify the benefit — or lack of benefit — of the red and infrared lights in the light-curing unit, particularly their safety,” he says.
Soheil, left, and Dr. Richard Price.
Learning about lights and materials
This past summer, Soheil not only heard that he was accepted into Dalhousie’s dentistry program but he was able to take his honours project research farther by scrutinizing the evidence for the use of the red and infrared lights. His aim to make sure it was as “airtight” as possible and that they had drawn all the conclusions they could.
Although the bulk of his time over the past two summers has been spent in the lab, Soheil says that Dr. Price showed him around the Dentistry Building and introduced him to other researchers and faculty members. He also became familiar with all the machines and other equipment in the building that could be used for the research he and Dr. Price are working on.
“My interest in dental materials has grown through the research I’ve done,” he says, “and I know that having this knowledge of materials and techniques that I’ve gained over the past two summers is going to be super beneficial as I go through dental school and one day work in a practice.”
Dr. Price is also positive about the summers’ work and the potential it holds for Ghaffari.
“This experience has given Soheil a deeper understanding of the dental profession and dental research,” he says. “He is enthusiastic about presenting his research at international dental conferences and he may even travel to Brazil next summer to conduct further research.”