'Who's Who' students all smiles

Published: Wednesday, January 31, 1996

Registry recognizes achievements

of two School of Dentistry Bruins

By Jennifer K. Morita

Daily Bruin Staff

They're both UCLA School of Dentistry students in their fourth year and they're both specializing in orthodontics.

They're are at the top of their class and both Bruce Abbink and Chad Smart have been named in the 1996 registry of "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges."

"They're the best students we've ever had here," said David Rudolph, one of their instructors at the School of Dentistry. "Chad is at the top of his class. He and Bruce are number one and number two."

But that's where their similarities end.

"When I started college, I was leaning towards engineering," said Abbink, 27. "My father was an engineer and so I was swaying between engineering and medicine."

But Abbink, who grew up in Westlake, some 30 minutes away from UCLA, said he soon realized that engineering wasn't for him.

"I liked my physics classes, but I didn't care for engineering, and medicine didn't really appeal to me either," Abbink said. "One of my best friends from high school had a dad who was an orthodontist. I was talking to him about what I wanted to do and he just casually suggested dentistry."

Before making a final decision, Abbink said he volunteered at his own dentist's office, and through his dad's Rotary Club, visited dental offices and orthodontists.

"I wanted to get a feel for dentistry before I jumped into it," Abbink said. "I was looking at medicine and the changes that have been occurring there. Managed care and HMOs are more popular now. The idea of a private practice was more appealing to me. I wanted to be in charge and not dependent or working for someone else."

After he graduated from UCLA with a degree in chemistry, Abbink took a year off from school and went to work while he applied to dental schools.

"My first choice was UCLA," Abbink says. "I liked the area; it's cheaper than private schools and it's one of the top dental schools in the nation."

According to UCLA School of Dentistry spokeswoman Elaine Schmidt, UCLA ranks second to Harvard in its students' National Board scores.

"We really prepare people by making them work with the nuts and bolts," Schmidt said. "We teach them how to work with different patients, multi-cultural patients. We give the students a really well-rounded experience."

As one of the top dental schools in the nation, UCLA puts its students through what both Abbink and Smart call a "grueling schedule."

"It was much harder than I ever thought it would be," Smart said. "Especially the first two years. We just had a tremendous workload."

Their schedules included taking a classload comparable to 26 to 30 units and about 18 classes each quarter for the first two years.

"Can you imagine having 18 finals?" Smart asked. "There were times when I was overwhelmed, usually during finals, and I'd stay at UCLA all week. I'd sleep on tables or in the car."

In addition, they had their clinical work with patients and labwork, and were required to conduct research with a faculty advisor.

"It's tough," Abbink said. "I had to keep on top of everything. You just have to set priorities. There's so much going on, you'll never accomplish everything."

But on top of the work and the studying, Abbink said it's also important to set aside some time for socializing, especially with fellow dental students.

"These are some great people," Abbink says. "In each class there's only about 90 students so you really get to know everyone. You have your labs together, classes. You see them more than your own family."

But while Abbink said his fellow students are like family to him, Smart's reason for going into dentistry and his motivation to keep going is his own family - his wife, Maria, and their three sons, 10-year-old C.J., 5-year-old Cale, and 18-day-old Taylor.

"I was married and had my first kid before I had any idea of what kind of career I wanted," said Smart, 30, who got married when he was 19. After spending a year and a half in community college in California, he returned to his hometown of Aurora, Colo. and went to work with his father making ski and golf sweaters.

"After a while, I knew it wasn't want I wanted to do," Smart said. "I'd always wanted to do something in the health care field, but I didn't know exactly what. People didn't have much faith that I would succeed because, by then, I was married and had two kids."

Smart left Colorado and began attending California Lutheran University, where he debated between pre-med or pre-dental.

"There was a friend of the family who was an orthodontist and so I started talking to him about his lifestyle, his work and what he does," Smart said. "My wife and I became convinced that that's what we wanted."

It was a team decision, he said.

"We have a team approach to this career thing. Even though I'm the one that's the student, it's for the both of us and it's for our family," Smart said. "I'm doing my part and she does hers.

"Orthodontics was more conducive to family life," Smart added. "You're not on-call and you can have a successful, well-paying career while spending fewer hours away from home."

Despite having to balance the rigorous schedule of dentistry school with family life and raising three sons, Smart's instructors said he is one of the best students they've had.

"He's the kind of dental student you wish all the other dental students were like," said Richard Stevenson, a professor at the dental school. "He's very bright and unassuming."

Stevenson explained that Smart's scores for the National Board exam, which all dental students must take, place him at the top.

"You wouldn't know it, though," Stevenson said. "He's not arrogant. He's just friendly."

Smart attributed all his success to his family.

"I wasn't a dedicated student until I had a family," Stevenson said. "Having a family helped me focus and really make some definite goals for myself."

On top of all their success, colleagues and instructors said Smart and Abbink are all-around nice guys.

"Bruce is one of the sweetest guys you'll ever talk to," Rudolph said, "which is why he does such a great job with patient management. You have a patient who is all stressed out and he is able to calm them down and assure them that everything is going to be OK."

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Dental student Bruce Abbink treats Julia Gutierrez with fellow 'Who's Who' Bruin and future orthodontist Chad Smart.

Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu