Purpose in a Smile
After losing a tooth in a bowling alley and a decade of stress from wearing a flipper, dentistry wasn’t on Alessandro Padovani’s radar as a profession. When he turned 21, it was time for an implant. As he went to the dentist’s office, he was looking for a new tooth and a new career path from nursing.
“Although great, nursing was difficult during Covid, especially in the ICU,” he said. When his dentist spoke about the field and placed the implant, something sparked in him. “My life got so much better because of my dentist, and I found that to be an incredible experience.”
He had been out of the school for three years, but the former biology major from Villanova University started to prepare for the Dental Admissions Test and shadowed dentists. “It was incredible seeing people’s lives changed every single appointment, and the more I shadowed, the more passionate I became about it,” he said. He interviewed with a handful of schools but decided to enroll in the Class of 2026 of Rutgers School of Medicine (RSDM) because of the school’s location and clinical training. “The clinical education you get at Rutgers blows every other school out of the water,” he said. “I knew I wanted to be a clinician foremost, so I decided this would probably be the best for my future.”
At RSDM, he has embraced every opportunity to grow and give back. “I love that this program is what you make of it in every aspect,” he said. Beyond the requirements, “you can do as much as you want or as little to graduate, but the opportunities here are really second to none.” He serves as class vice president, president of the endodontics club, and a volunteer with the Decisions for Dentistry and Gateway programs that mentor high school and college students exploring careers in dentistry.
One of his most rewarding roles has been tutoring D1 and D2 students for a class he struggled with in his journey and seeing them excel just as he did. “We all struggle, especially learning something new like dentistry for the first time, but persevering and not really giving up is the only way you get good at it,” he said. “The improvements some of them have made over this past year have been incredible.”
He credits his success to the support of his family—especially his wife, Jessica, and one-year-old son. “Dental school is very difficult; without them, I don’t think I could have gotten to where I am today.” This sense of family extends to his peers at RSDM. “We’re all one big family here,” he said. Padovani is applying for general practice residency programs now and aspires to have his own practice in the long run. “Everybody has the same goal: to become a competent practitioner. If we help each other out, we can all get there.”
