Jordan Freeman understands that most of her dental patients don’t enjoy visiting her office. That’s why she tries to make her patients feel as comfortable as possible. “There’s definitely a psychological aspect to the profession of dentistry,” says Freeman, B.Sc. ’02. “You have to have some intuition into what the patient is feeling. I think it really depends on the relationship you develop with the patient.”
In her Burlington, Ont., practice, Freeman helps patients overcome their fears by explaining the dental procedure step by step.
As the daughter of a dentist and a physiotherapist, Freeman always knew she wanted to pursue a career in a medical field. She chose dentistry because she enjoyed working with her hands and chose U of G for its human kinetics program – and its rugby team.
“Guelph is such an awesome school and it’s well regarded too,” she says.
Freeman says playing varsity rugby and studying human kinetics proved to be a useful combination when it came to applying to dental school, but it also helped her meet and develop friendships with other student-athletes.
Because U of G offers human anatomy courses that use the human body as a learning tool, Freeman says she went on to McGill University with background knowledge that most of her dental school classmates didn’t get until their first year of dentistry. “Learning like that is just so beyond a textbook,” says Freeman. “It’s such an honour that people are requesting to be donated to science to help undergrads.”
Graduates of Guelph’s human anatomy program often pursue careers in medicine, dentistry and physiotherapy.
Freeman advises first-year students to keep their marks up throughout their programs because when they apply to professional schools, all of their marks will be taken into account. “Do as well as you can, having as much fun as you can,” she says, referring to her own approach to university.
During her last visit to campus at Homecoming 2012, Freeman says she enjoyed watching a rugby game at the new athletics complex. “It was so much fun to be back.”