Lasting Impressions | Fall 2015

NSU COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE © 13 here is amazing. From the time you walk into this place and meet them, they’re open-minded and fun and caring,’’ she said. “Every- body has an open-door pol- icy, and everybody has a smile on their face. For me, that was very important, because I consider myself a happy person and a social person. I didn’t want to come to school every day and be in a place where everybody has a straight face.” Godoy, 31, will graduate in spring 2016 with her D.M.D. degree. By the time she graduates, she will have completed more than 120 advanced procedures in NSU’s Dental Clinic, including crowns, fillings, den- tures, bridges, and partials. Along the way, her confidence has grown alongside her skills. She still remembers the first patient she saw at CDM. “My hands were shaking,” she recalled. “I was nervous, but I had an amazing patient. He was really nice, and he told me that the reason he was here was that he wanted his case to be a teaching experience for the students. But I didn’t stop shaking until at least my fifth procedure, I would say. [Working with patients] is differ- ent from working in the sim lab on a mannequin head. Now you’re here in the clinic, and you get a real patient, and you realize the responsibility.” A resident of Davie with her husband and newborn, Godoy considers the experience at the CDM very valu- able. “It’s a privilege for us to be able to see and to treat patients,” she said. She will take that privilege to what she hopes is a career in pediatric dentistry, bringing with her a more careful, compassionate touch that she believes is a major part of her future profession. “Behavior management is key when it comes to seeing kids,” she said. “In my opinion, not everybody can handle that. It requires a lot of patience and dedication to sit there and have a child, who’s screaming, actually trust you enough to let you see inside his or her mouth. It’s a scary situation for them. It’s even scary for some adults, so for kids, it’s even more so,’’ Godoy added. “I’ve been shadowing a pediatric dentist for the past year and a half, and that’s how I’ve been feeling a little more comfortable.” Godoy’s dual sense of geniality and humility has helped endear her to her professors, including Thomas Dwork, D.M.D., one of her former team leaders. “She has a type A personality where everything must be perfect, but she has what some students don’t possess, and that’s an incredible warmth, interest, and concern for her patients,” Dwork said about Godoy. “She has a genuine tenderness and sincerity that her patients, no matter what age, respond to. She has a keen empathy with peo- ple in general that few people possess, and it can’t be faked. Children know if you are sincere, and she is the real deal.” Another NSU faculty member who is surely proud of Godoy’s talent is none other than her father, Antonio Godoy, D.D.S., who teaches prosthodontics. “I’ve worked with him in the clinic setting, which is an honor for me,” she said about her father. “We try not to get into situations where he has to grade me, to avoid conflict of interest. But we work very well together, and I feel he’s a little harder on me than some of his other stu- dents, because he pushes me a lot.” This makes sense: She’s had quite the head start. u Daniella Godoy grew up listening to the lectures of her father, Antonio Godoy, D.D.S. (left), now a professor at the NSU College of Dental Medicine. Daniella Godoy will graduate in Spring 2016 with her D.M.D. degree.