Student Spotlight: Age is not stopping Seyed Emadaldin Amini DMD AS 25 from following his dreams
The key to being content is working as a dentist — at least according to Seyed Emadaldin Amini DMD AS 25.
Amini is 62 years old – but he said his age doesn’t deter him from his goal of becoming a licensed dentist in the United States.
Amini first attended dental school in his native country, Iran, at 24 years old. However, when he immigrated to the U.S. from Iran in 2011, he had to stop practicing dentistry and said it felt like he lost a quintessential part of his identity.
Now that he is a student in the GSDM DMD Advanced Standing program, he said he can feel his personality coming back.
“A piece of puzzle in my life was missing; it was just like a long-lost child,” Amini said. “Then you suddenly find it…when I got accepted here, everything changed.”
At 62, Amini is the oldest student in the DMD AS Class of 2025. Amini joked that he was also on the older side of the students in his first round of dental education in Iran as well, as most of his fellow classmates were 18 and recently graduated high school. He said being an older student energizes and rejuvenates him.
“It’s a good thing for me because I feel young when I’m among young people,” he said.
After graduating from his dental school in 1991, he began working as a dentist in Tehran. In 2011, Amini and his wife, daughter, and son, immigrated to the United States, first moving to Los Angeles. Amini said he and his family wanted to relocate to the U.S. for a multitude of reasons, including opening the doors to better education opportunities for his children. His son, who was 18 years old at the time of their move, ended up going to UCLA and getting a bachelor’s degree in physics.
Amini added that both his sister and his wife’s parents were already living in the United States, and they wanted to be closer to their family.
For seven years, Amini and his daughter traveled back and forth from Los Angeles to Tehran to continue their dental pursuits. He worked as a dentist in a dental office to provide for his family while his daughter completed her dental education.
In 2018, following his daughter’s dental school commencement a year prior, he decided to stop traveling to Tehran and become certified as a dental hygienist in Florida. He wanted to stay within the dental field and was glad to have the opportunity to do so closer to his family. After getting his dental hygienist, he and his wife and daughter moved to Orlando, while his son was studying for his master’s in medical physics from Duke University. One year later, Amini’s daughter got her dental hygienist license in Florida as well.
His happiness at becoming certified as a dental hygienist in Florida was short lived, Amini said, as he quickly became bored and yearned to work as a dentist again but, this time in the United States. He considered this role as a retirement, but he wasn’t ready to stop working in dentistry. He didn’t initially plan to apply to advanced standing program when he first moved to the U.S., but it came clear to him that he needed to work as a dentist once again.
After his supervisor dentist, a GSDM Class of 2017 alum, spoke highly of her dental school experience, Amini decided to apply to GSDM’s two-year DMD Advanced Standing program. He said it was practically fate.
“It was because of that doctor who told me that [GSDM] is one of the best dental schools,” he said. “I did some research and saw that, yes, it’s here: Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine… Boston is one of the best cities in the world. Some of the best faculty in the world teach there. Everything is almost perfect.”
Since the second he started the program in July, Amini said he has felt a sense of belonging and camaraderie among his fellow Advanced Standing peers.
“In a blink of the eye, I didn’t know how [the time] passed because I was enjoying every moment of it,” Amini said. “Everyone is amazing. When I start talking to them [and] listening to their stories, it’s really amazing.”
Throughout the rest of his time at GSDM, Amini said he is fueled by his mission of becoming a practicing dentist once again.
“The things that I had done for 27 years, and then immediately you lose it, you want to get it back,” he said.
Amini said he hopes other older students wouldn’t let their age prevent them from starting rigorous academic programs and striving to find what makes them happy. He said it’s never too late.
“[I recommend that older students] never think about their age,” Amini said. “Just believe in their capabilities, and believe in themselves, and they can reach their goals.”