During her undergrad days at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Destiny Moser spent plenty of time shadowing medical professionals in various healthcare fields in an attempt to determine the career path she wanted to take. Along the way, Moser discovered she particularly enjoyed the hands-on “artistry” of providing dental care.
“It’s kind of like arts-and-crafts,” Moser says, before pausing and adding, “Really hard arts-and-crafts.”
Moser accepted the challenge and enrolled in the UAB School of Dentistry in 2021 after receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences and a Master’s in Biotechnology. Now, as she begins her final year in the SOD, Moser says she is excited to take all that she has learned and begin applying it in her dental career.
“I’ve had a really good experience at UAB,” Moser says. “I’m part of a great class that meshes well. We have a good patient base. And the faculty are very supportive. I’m comfortable asking them any questions, and there’s never a feeling of condescension. There definitely has been a huge opportunity to learn about anything and do a little bit of everything while in dental school.”
Moser grew up in Crestview, Florida, and decided to come to UAB in 2015 because of “the reputation it has in health and sciences.” She considered enrolling in medical school before deciding on dentistry instead. In addition to the artistic nature of working with crowns and dental prosthetics, Moser says she was intrigued by the personal nature of seeing the same patients on a regular basis.
“I’ve been going to my dentist for years, and I’m very comfortable with him,” Moser says. “I know him well and can talk with him easily. I like having the ability to build that kind of long-term patient relationships.”
Of course, like all SOD students, Moser needed to receive a certain amount of textbook knowledge before she could start working directly with patients. That is an area where she says the UAB faculty excelled in preparing her for what to expect in the clinic.
“The pre-clinical training that we had was really comprehensive,” Moser says. “So even though I was nervous when I first went into clinic, I was prepared. And my confidence didn’t take too many hits because I had so much support from the faculty, including Dr. Bradford and Dr. Martins. I’ve seen a lot of growth in my clinical skills over the past year.”
“Getting into clinic and building relationships with my patients is what solidified this (as a career) for me. Dentistry itself is interesting and I enjoy it, but that’s only half the enjoyment. I really like working with my patients. Seeing their reaction after I deliver a crown or dentures is so satisfying, because they’re so excited. You feel like you’ve given them back something they were missing in life.”
Moser says she is ready to see where her career takes her.
“It was a long road and a hard road to get to this point,” Moser says, “but it’s been worth it.”