My parents, for as long as I can remember, took me to appointments at a dental clinic. I would think that I really liked candy and I wasn’t very disciplined when it came to brushing my teeth. Doctor Raymond Pauly Sasso was a very important man among pediatric dentistry specialists at that time, more or less 45 years ago, because not only had he graduated from a Foreign University, which at the time was difficult, but he also He had hanging in his waiting room hundreds of titles and recognitions given mostly by institutions that he could barely read, since they were all in English. That aroused great admiration in me for this tall man, a little stooped and with an appearance of knowing everything and being very successful. This is how I began my love for “teeth”, I remember that when I arrived at his office, he explained everything to me, each tweezer he took out of his drawers showed me the use he was going to give it on my teeth. It was easy to understand him, since he was also a professor at the University of Costa Rica. I remember that, from a very young age, the first thing I observed about a person were their teeth, and since I believed I “knew so much” because of everything the doctor explained to me in his dental clinic, I would look for cavities, white spots, misaligned teeth, etc. to inform people who had a problem with his teeth. Time passed, and during my school and college days, I never doubted what I wanted to study. My goal was clear and that is how I entered the UCR in 1984 to start what I would be passionate about for the rest of my life.
I finished my dentistry degree
When I finished my dentistry degree I went to Cañas, Guanacaste to do my social service. There I met my husband with whom I have been happily married for 31 years. Once I finished social service, I was given the opportunity to study a specialty in Mexico and I began to think about the multiple specialty options in dentistry that were available to me and I didn’t know which one to decide on. The truth is, I liked everything, except endodontics (nerve treatments) since it seemed very boring to me. One day they advised me to go to different offices to see the day-to-day life of different specialists to see what caught my attention. I went to my periodontics teacher (gum treatment) which seemed like very bloody treatments for my taste. Then I went to my pediatric dentistry professor, and although I loved children, it wasn’t what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life. Until one day, I had the opportunity to go to Panama, where I met my husband’s Orthodontist, who invited me to see his office for several days, and it was there where I fell in love with orthodontics, seeing how people came out so happy, as I could see “dull” smiles transformed into beautiful works of art. People telling me their stories about how the famous Orthodontist had not only changed the appearance of his mouth but his entire life. As “simple devices” they managed to restore their confidence, self-esteem and self-assurance. I wanted to do the same. My thing was that transformation of lives.
Orthodontics was my thing
I definitely couldn’t have been happier specializing in another branch of dentistry. And now? How can I study abroad? Yes, the specialty did not exist in Costa Rica, and I did not have the resources to be able to study abroad. The answer is: God in my life! He has spoiled me so much that he knew that my desire was to study orthodontics to be able to help many people and that is how I was given the opportunity of a full scholarship at the best orthodontic University in all of Latin America, The Intercontinental University, in Mexico city. It was almost 3 years of sacrifice, lots of learning, where I managed to finish my Master’s degree in orthodontics.
Back to Costa Rica
I started my office in San Pedro, and thanks to the recommendations of my own patients, I started seeing more and more people, braces became my daily bread. I was invited to share my knowledge at different National Congresses, making myself known as a specialist. Then I was hired as director and Founder of a new orthodontics postgraduate program that would open at the Latin American University of Science and Technology (ULACIT), which I had to put together from scratch, from making the study plans to hiring the teachers. I wanted to give Costa Rican Doctors the opportunity to do a high-quality postgraduate degree, like the one I had done in Mexico, here in Costa Rica. And i did it! The doors were opened for a highly demanding and prestigious postgraduate course in which more than 150 professionals have graduated. I was also part, for many years, of the Board of Directors of the Costa Rican Academy of Orthodontics where I organized conferences for all orthodontist colleagues in the country. I always sought excellence in my cases, although the treatment of braces was sometimes monotonous and often uncomfortable for the majority of patients who complained of difficulty brushing their teeth, restrictions on some foods and sometimes wires that bothered their cheeks inside their mouths.
Invisible aligners appeared
When Invisalign was available in Costa Rica in 2008 as a new Orthodontic technique with invisible aligners, I was one of the first orthodontists to be certified. Invisalign seemed like something very new and that’s how I started my practice with aligners. The truth is, at the beginning, it didn’t go very well for me because the results were not what I expected. Invisalign was not for all cases, only for those that were easy, not very complicated and with my high degree of “BEING A PERFECTIONIST” I didn’t achieve what I did with the brackets. Little by little I lost interest, until, in 2017, I found out that Invisalign had changed the material it used, it had invested in technology, in engineering, in software. Everything was exciting to me, I had to give the product a new chance. And that’s how I decided to dive in “head first”, taking courses, reading all kinds of books, learning, online education, from lecturers with a lot of experience in aligners, people who had contributed to the progress of this wonderful technique. I even did a “Master in Aligners” with well-known doctors from Portugal. Every day I became more excited to learn, I wanted to do it well, and I began to treat really complex cases, the ones that other orthodontic doctors refused to do with aligners. I saw success in my hands, but above all in the knowledge acquired. I knew how to make what Invisalign showed me on the computer how the patient was going to look, I could achieve it by making some adjustments, changing position attachments, making some movements happen first than others, exhaustively reviewing each treatment plan that the patient software presented to me so that EVERYTHING WAS COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE and that patients could obtain the amazing results that I get today in my dental clinic. It was worth so much effort, so many hours invested in studying. Today I feel very satisfied and grateful for the results I obtain in each of my patients.
What does the invisible aligner technique mean to me?
For me, the invisible aligner technique is here to stay, braces are gradually going to disappear from the market. This is how the analog era of telephony became the digital era of it. Everything changes, everything evolves and everything must be better. Invisible aligners are occupying an important market in orthodontics. Currently, people want to improve the aesthetics and bite of their teeth but do not want to see themselves with metal braces in their mouth. In me, it came to renew me, it gave me a fresh air to my professional practice. An awakening that I feel more satisfied with every day.