From failure to success: Bare Root resident is first Dental Surgeon in community

Each college student has a unique story to tell about the journey that brought them to graduation day. The story of 26-year-old Oral McAllister of Bare Root, Bachelor’s Adventure, East Coast Demerara is that he overcame profound hardships, and hopes to inspire other students on their educational journey.
McAllister recently graduated from the University of Guyana with a Degree in Dental Surgery. He told Guyana Times that his interest in becoming a Dental Surgeon sprang from his fascination with teeth extraction.

“It began over 23 years ago when I told my parents, as a 3-year-old child, that I want to be the take-out-teeth man. Fast forward to ten years after that, I was 13 and looked quite often at my environment, my mom’s financial status, and the community in which I lived. I remember telling my mom, ‘I won’t be a Dentist anymore, because it will be too much for you, and we don’t have the money’.
“My mom replied prophetically by saying, ‘Son, you study the books and I’ll study the money’.
Six years in, I had just finished sitting the CAPE examinations and it was time for me to experience my first setback (failure)”, he said.
McAllister said that while preparing to apply to the University of Guyana, his CAPE examination results came back as a disappointment.
“The results weren’t good, and I was rejected from UG’s Dental programme. I decided to enroll in UG’s Biology programme. I worked hard the first year to obtain the required GPA to be admitted into the Dental programme”.
In 2015, McAllister was accepted into the Dental programme. He said at first he thought life as a university student, especially a Dental Student, would be a “breeze”, but to his surprise, it was quite challenging.
“That year was my worst year academically, which resulted in me having to repeat the first year, owing to massive self-doubt and comparison to the many QC graduates. Their ability to consume knowledge wowed me and left me, an Annandale Secondary graduate, feeling like I’m out of place. I felt worthless. Despite never shoving their abilities in my face, my self-imposed barrier crippled me”, McAllister explained.
In 2016, McAllister started his first day of class in the Dental programme, but was ashamed to attend his classes, since he had to repeat an entire year.
“I looked myself in the mirror and said, ‘I have to endure this shame now, so that my future will be bright for my family and generations to come’. It was quite embarrassing to have classes in the same building as the class I was supposed to be in while having to stay back a year. I said, ‘Oral, them people gonna go live their lives, so you focus on you, and not on what they are saying or thinking about you’.”
He said that, against all odds, he persevered throughout 2016 and until 2018, and did not quit. However, 2019 became his toughest year.
“I started to repeat the academic performances of 2015. It affected me physically, emotionally and psychologically. It got so bad that on my way to school, many days I used to wish that the bus would just crash up and kill me. But with help and support from friends, especially my study group and prayer brothers, I persevered,” he explained.
“Many days I had to seek private encouragement and extra tutoring from some classmates. Motivation came from my church squad too. I kept pushing, and I finished university. I pushed because many people saw me as their role model”, he said.
Today, McAllister is the first Dental Surgeon in his community, and is among a handful of persons to attend university in that village.
When asked what is next from here, he said, “I have plans to do whatever I can to provide funding and encouragement to the children and youths of my church, community, and country. Today, I’m at the finish line, and I encourage anyone to pursue their dreams despite how impossible it may seem. As Audrey Hepburn said, “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I’m possible”.