Fellow Alumni Helped Him Pursue Dream of Pediatric Dentistry
Dr. Peter Paradiso When Dr. Peter Paradiso, Class of ’16, was wondering whether to switch from general to pediatric dentistry, he relied on advice from his network of RSDM alumni. “They mentored and guided me,’’ he says. One of them was alumnus Dr. Mitch Bayroff, who he’d known since childhood and who was also an attending dentist when Paradiso was doing his residency at Overlook Hospital in Summit. Paradiso asked him why he shifted to pediatric dentistry after decades as a general dentist. “What was it that drove you?” Dr. Paradiso wanted to know. “He talked about his love of dentistry, but mostly how when he looked at children, he knew he could provide them with an experience that would make them love dentistry too. That confirmed my gut feeling that I also had a special bond with kids and could provide them with a lifetime of smiles,’’ Dr. Paradiso recalls. As a former teacher and coach, Dr. Paradiso always loved working with kids and began to realize that this might be a rewarding path for him. RSDM classmates who went on to specialize in pediatric dentistry, including his friend, Dinah Jammel, also encouraged him. After serving a pediatric dentistry residency at St. Christopher’s Hospital in Philadelphia, he began practicing this summer at KidzWorld Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics in Cedar Knolls and Newton-Sparta Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics. He loves being able to help children enjoy going to the dentist. “You’re always going to have the kids that love coming to the dentist. What makes being a pediatric dentist so rewarding is treating the kids who come to you fearful or shy. Maybe it's their first time there or having their first filling done. When you can create an experience that has them jumping out of the chair with a huge smile, it makes you want to keep providing experiences like that,’’ explains Dr. Paradiso. “You can change the trajectory of how they view coming to the dentist.’’ Dr. Paradiso has found that being in the RSDM Alumni Association has provided him with mentors and friends during every stage of his career. "It’s valuable to reconnect with other dentists who were in school at the same time you were, or were several years ahead of you as well as current students,’’ he says. “People who started a practice and worked as associates, they can help you move forward.’’ It’s also a way of focusing on the bonds forged during school instead of the demands.“There’s always this stigma of dental school, ‘it’s really hard, it traumatizes us.’ Dental school wasn’t easy and no one is like, I’d love to do it all again. But alumni events reconnect you with the people who made dental school a great experience, people who care and want to give back, who want to make it easier for the next person.’’
