By Julie FrenchThe Daily Northwestern

When Northwestern’s Dental School closed its doors in 2001, dentistry seemed to drop off NU’s radar.

Now, a few undergraduates are pushing for more awareness of the field in a heavily pre-med environment.

Two pre-dental students are founding the Northwestern Pre-Dental Society this year to gather like-minded students, and pre-health advisors said more students have sought information on dentistry.

“More people are becoming aware of the profession and realizing it’s a good match for them,” said Francisco Castelan, a health professions adviser, noting that applications to dental schools are up nationwide.

He said dentistry’s reputation of being a lower pursuit than medicine is just not true.

“It’s just as demanding as pre-med,” he said. “It’s very competitive and students have to show why they’re really interested in the profession.”

McCormick senior Justin Welke, one of the dental society’s co-founders, said fellow students are often surprised that he is pre-dental, and he has been asked if medical school would be too challenging for him. But Welke, who will enter the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Dentistry next fall, sees several benefits in dentistry.

“You make a great living from a financial standpoint, and you’re your own boss,” he said. “This is the kind of job that allows you to work three or four days a week and be there with your family.”

Adrian Codel, a member of NU’s final dental class, who now owns his own dental practice, said he loves the flexibility his job provides. He said he is able to stay home with his son and give back to the community, sometimes volunteering with a mobile dental van for the homeless.

“You work with your hands and more importantly interact with people on a daily basis,” he said.

Codel often lets pre-dental undergraduates shadow him so they get an understanding of the profession.

He usually works with UIC students, but as the president of the NU Dental School Alumni Association, he said he wants to work more with NU undergraduates.

In the past, however, Codel’s attempts to reach out to them received little enthusiasm. He said the closure of what was once a top-10 dental school is a disadvantage to NU students, but there is a broad network of dental alumni in the Chicago area.

Codel suggested students use this network to explore the profession and its various fields, such as orthodontics, oral surgery or cosmetic dentistry.

“Dentistry is a lot more medical now than it is drilling and filling,” he said. “It’s high-tech, too.”

Communication junior Michelle Tsao, the other co-founder of the pre-dental society, said she plans to specialize in oral surgery. She entered NU planning to attend either medical or dental school, but decided on dentistry after a root canal with an “amazing” dentist.

But she said it has been hard to find other aspiring dentists at NU.

“It seems like dentistry doesn’t even exist at this school,” she said. “All the students are so geared to going into med school that it’s difficult to talk to people who are interested in other health care fields.”

Nevertheless, Tsao said she is confident about her decision.

“I’ve heard a lot of doctors say, ‘I’m a doctor now, but if I had to do it all over again, I’d be a dentist,'” she said.

Reach Julie French at [email protected].