Today we’d like to introduce you to Marisela Sinclair.
Marisela, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My dental journey started back in senior year of high school. I remember having desires of being in the dental field as a dental hygienist. After high school, I went to dental assisting school at United Education Institute when it was in downtown San Diego. I was lucky to have been hired by the general dentist whom I had done my dental assisting externship with. While starting out as a dental assistant, I was going to community college with the plan to still become a dental hygienist. That soon changed.
My dentist employer had inspired me to go to dental school and become a dentist. She exposed me to the many facets dentistry has to offer and I was hooked. I wanted the freedom to practice in all these dental areas. I soon got my Registered Dental Assistant license and I continued to take courses at Palomar College. From Palomar, I transferred to California State University San Marcos.
By this time, I had cut back on dental assisting from full time to part-time. I applied to dental school, got into four good schools and chose to attend the University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry.
Has it been a smooth road?
It was not a smooth road. I spent many years at Palomar Community College because I did not have the luxury of attending school full time. I would take classes at night after working all day. Eventually, I worked part-time to get more school in and then full time. When I really decided to focus on school and continue my pursuit of dental school, I quit assisting (aside from the occasional filling in I did) and did school full time. This required my husband and I to move from our nice townhome to a granny flat rental which we now refer to as the “cave”.
Not a year after starting at Cal State, my husband and I had an oops. We were pregnant with our first baby. We were nervous about what this meant for our plans of me going to dental school- we had already done some sacrificing to support my goal. A pregnancy, let alone a child was not in the plans. I waddled my way through campus towards the end and I also worried about the chemicals I was exposing the baby to inorganic chem class. He came a week before finals of the fall semester. I studied for finals soon after coming home from the hospital and took my finals no more than 2 weeks later. Dental school time comes, and I select San Francisco, the home of my future dental school.
The plan was for the 3 of us (my husband, one and half-year-old boy, and myself) to move up north so I could attend dental school. We had it all lined up. My husband had found a job. We had found a place to stay. We had even left our rental at the time and lived with my parents as we figured out the final move. I was about to embark on a crazy education time in my life. I would have been commuting north, my husband south, and our son would have stayed in the middle. This did not feel right. Up until that point, my mother had been the one to care for our son while my husband worked, and I was at school. We just did not feel comfortable being away from our son most of the day in an area we were not used to. Plan B- I moved up to SF alone.
My husband and son stayed behind and continued to live with my parents. This was a hard goodbye. The plan was for us try this out for a year and see how it went. Two weeks after moving to SF, I flew back for the weekend to visit my family. Zeke was one year and a half at the time. He looked at me with confusion as if he had forgotten me a little already. We soon overcame that, but it was still a sad feeling inside. The first year I was loaded with an overwhelming number of didactic courses and wasn’t able to make it down to SD much. But, my husband and son did make it up to see me as often as they could which was awesome for the most part.
Once they drove up without warning and I was upset because they took time away from studies for a dental radiology midterm. Zeke was soon getting frequent flyer card offers. Early year two, oops #2 comes along. This was a huge hit for us. Again, we were not planning on a pregnancy, especially right in the middle of dental school. We didn’t know how we would make it. We were still living apart and we pushed through. My belly started getting in the way of seeing patients. He would sometimes kick the headrest of the dental chair as my belly rested up against it. Luckily, Luke came a week into my 4-week summer break. Luckily also, my husband saved vacation time and took a leave of absence from work to move up with me for the welcoming of baby.
3 weeks post C-section, I was rolling my roller bag into school, seeing patients again, wishing C-section recovery wasn’t as brutal. Also wishing I had a full night’s sleep. 10 weeks after Luke’s birth, Jared, Zeke and Luke move back to SD. Jared had his own place by this time. He continued to do his thing with Zeke as he had done and newborn Luke stays with my mother full time. She wakes up for him at night to feed him and fully adopts him while I am finishing up the last year of dental school. There is no doubt I have the most supportive husband, and the most caring mother.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Sinclair Smiles – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I purchased the dental practice on February 1st of this year. It is a boutique general dental practice. We are known for our classy, fresh and fun atmosphere. We see both adults and children. We are known to be thorough, caring, honest and gentle.
What I am most proud of is my team for their support day in and day out. It is not uncommon for them to be team players when it comes to staying late with me for a patient that is in need. The team is what makes our practice classy, fresh, and fun! I am also proud of the road that my family and I have taken to make it to small business ownership. It required a lot of sacrifice from multiple individuals and I am proud of them and am proud of myself.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I was born in San Diego County and have not lived anywhere else besides San Francisco for dental school. I do not see myself living anywhere else. Weather is hard to beat, even on an off year like this. San Diego has the best people and patients. One thing we could all probably do without is the traffic, although I am thankful it is not as bad as it is in areas like SF or LA.
Contact Info:
- Address: 285 N. El Camino Real, #112 Encinitas, CA 92024
- Website: sinclairsmiles.com
- Phone: (760) 753-3368
- Email: contact@sinclairsmiles.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/sinclairsmiles
- Facebook: facebook.com/sinclairsmiles
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sinclair-smiles-marisela-sinclair-dds-encinitas-5
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