The 2026 ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event in Montréal, Québec, Canada, featured guest speakers, breakout sessions and nearly 50 dental schools from the United States and Canada. More than 500 attendees took the opportunity to network and learn more about the dental school application process, mentoring and shadowing. This event also marked the 16th year that ADEA has sponsored the event in conjunction with the ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition.

The 2026 ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event kicked off with opening remarks from Todd V. Ester, D.D.S., M.A., ADEA Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Directors; Karen P. West. D.M.D., M.P.H., ADEA President and CEO; and Marc O. Martel, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Co-chair of Admission Committee, McGill University Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences.

“Practicing dentistry goes far beyond knowledge,” Dr. Martel said to the students assembled. He said dentistry also requires professionalism, communication, collaboration and empathy.

“It is a profession that will challenge you to improve the oral health of people everywhere every day,” Dr. Martel said.

“I’m a first-generation college graduate,” Dr. Ester said. He urged the students who were first-gen college grads like himself “to look at this and understand everything is possible for you.”

“This is an exciting time in your life as you decide what you want to do,” Dr. West said. “Today is a chance for you to try out what dental school is going to be like.”

Persevering as an Immigrant and Student

This year’s ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event keynote speaker, Julio Morales, D.M.D., a cosmetic dentist and 2018 graduate of East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine, shared not only helpful hints for those applying to dental school but also his tumultuous journey as a Cuban immigrant to the United States.

Dr. Morales and his father arrived in the United States in 1994 in a raft in that his dad and uncles built and stored in their grandmother’s bedroom back in Cuba.

Despite a five-day journey that included a broken motor, a shark, and losing orientation while in the Caribbean Sea, Dr. Morales said he wasn’t afraid.

“As a child I never felt scared because my father was with me,” he said. “My father was like superman to me.”

Eventually, they would land in the Florida Keys and meet family members in Florida where they would start their new lives in the States. Dr. Morales would later join the U.S. army and use the G.I. bill to pay for his education.

He began college studying to become a physical therapy assistant and failed his first exam. Dr. Morales said it humbled him and he called his father to tell him that he didn’t think he was cut out for college.

“Dad said, ‘Failure is part of life. You get up. Try again. Everything will be easier next time.’”

Dr. Morales did better on the next exam and was later inspired to stay in college and study dentistry by his wife who was studying to be a dental hygienist.

“She planted the seed in my head,” Dr. Morales said.

Dentistry also appealed to his artistic side, allowed for work-life balance / spending quality time with his family and appealed to his desire to help people, “especially in underserved areas.”

Tailored Learning in Breakout Sessions

After Dr. Morales speech, attendees were given a choice to learn more at four breakout sessions: “Finding Patience, Peace and Persistence on the Dental Student Journey”; “Mentorship That Matters: Building a Network for Success in Dentistry”; “One Journey, Many Destinations: Your Road Trip to Dental School”; and “Your Journey to Dentistry: Make It Personal (Through the Personal Statement).”

In the breakout session, “Mentorship That Matters: Building a Network for Success in Dentistry,” Laila Hishaw, D.D.S., FACD, FICD, FPFA, Founding Board Member & President of Mentorships in Dentistry, Inc., shared the three-step outreach formula students can use to try to get a mentor: Be clear, be respectful and be prepared.

She also said students should make the most of their time at the Recruitment Event and build a network of potential mentors.

“You should not leave Montréal without a list of names,” Dr. Hishaw said.

“If there is a counselor you met today who went to great lengths to describe how you can prepare your application, email or send them a thank you note,” she said.

During “Finding Patience, Peace and Persistence on the Dental Student Journey,” speakers shared their respective journeys to entering dental school, answering questions on how to prepare for the DAT, craft personal statements and secure shadowing hours.

“My advice will be to start early in crafting your personal statement,” said Philopateer Hanein, a third-year student at University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry. “I did not. Looking back, something that is helpful is to keep track of personal events of your life that affected why you want to be a dentist.”

Jacob Kelly, a second-year student at Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine, offered his own advice on how to write a personal statement. “Understand that you are unique. Comment on your big why—why do you want to go to dental school?” he said.

“Please do not use Chat GPT to write your essay,” said breakout session moderator, Anna Lubitz, a fourth-year student at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM). “Admissions committee will see it and they can tell.”

But Isabel Terrasa, a third-year student at TUSDM, also warned students not to stress too much about the application process.

“When I think about the woman that I was in 2022, sitting in the GoDental Fair, I wish I could tell her it’s all going to be OK,” Terrasa said. “I have faith that it’s all going to shake out. Trust the process.”

Meeting Schools, Making Choices

The busy day ended with ADEA GoDental Recruitment Fair. Students traveled hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles to meet school representatives.

David Oyeriende, a high school student from Nigeria who wants to become a dentist, was visiting Montréal and looked online for different dental conferences that he could attend while in town. He’d learned about the ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event and knew he needed to go.

“I want to see different colleges to achieve my dream. I want to learn what steps I need to take,” Oyeriende said.

Meanwhile, Matty Jallow, a senior at Georgia State University who is planning to apply to dental school this cycle, said her childhood in Gambia was one of the reasons she wanted to become a dentist and why she was attending this year’s Recruitment Event.

Jallow said despite Gambia being called “The Smiling Coast of Africa,” the country is not known for its dentistry. During her early years she spent in Gambia, Jallow didn’t go to the dentist. When she and her family returned to the United States, Jallow had her first appointment with a pediatric dentist.

“She was so kind. She asked about my family and Gambia,” Jallow said. “It was amazing.”

Dentistry stayed in the back of Jallow’s mind while in school. She later shadowed a dentist and decided the profession was for her. “Seeing how people with dental issues stop smiling and how you can bring their smile back would be rewarding,” Jallow said.

Jessy Khuman, a senior at University of Maryland, and her friend, Noor Chaundry, a senior at New York University said 2026 marked their third time attending the Recruitment Event.

“We did it the first time our senior year,” Khuman said.

Now they’re both ready to apply to dental school with University of Maryland School of Dentistry on their list of choices among other dental schools.

“Even though in-state schools are amazing, I want to see what else is out there and what the other schools have to offer,” Chaundry said.

Khuman said her biggest consideration is school cost, especially with impending caps on federal student loans that will go into effect in July.

“I know I can get a good education at any of these schools but there is a lot of pressure to pay the student loan money back,” Khuman said.