First-year prosthodontics resident blends music and dentistry
First-year prosthodontics resident Dariel Kovetski (right) playing cello with his brother Emil (courtesy of the Academy of Osseointegration).
"Prosthodontics is perhaps the most visually artistic specialty," said Dariel Kovetski, a first-year post-graduate prosthodontics resident at the UConn School of Dental Medicine. "We're understanding the biomechanics of how things work, and all the while, we are making sure that the results are beautiful; intertwining art and science."
For Kovetski, it's only natural that he sees the artistry in prosthodontics, as he was exposed to both music and dentistry from a young age.
Musical Beginnings
Kovetski grew up in Boca Raton, Florida-his dad's side all dentists, and his mom's side, musicians.
"Growing up, I would intently listen to my grandpa play the cello," recalls Kovetski. "Hearing him play and seeing him perform made me a very musically inclined kid."
His grandfather was the principal cellist in the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra in Belarus. Seeking a better life for his wife and children, he immigrated to the United States in 1977 and worked as a traveling cellist. After Kovetski's grandfather retired, he focused on teaching his young grandchildren-including Kovetski, his older brother, and two younger sisters-how to play cello.
Koveski and his siblings were classically trained. But as they grew older, he and his brother, Emil, started to lean into their unique "dueling cellos" style and decided to take their musical interpretations into a different direction.
"We started experimenting with different genres of music," says Kovetski. "We played around with rock and metal music, fusing it with the classical fundamentals we were trained in. That's when we knew we were onto something cool. Of all stringed instruments, the cello is the closest to the range of the human voice. It can sound both like a delicate violin or a bombastic electric guitar."
The Big Break
At 13 and 15 years old, the brothers started uploading their unique rock music duet videos to YouTube. Little did they know their lives as cellists were about to change.
In 2013, a producer at "America's Got Talent" reached out asking the brothers to audition for the show's ninth season. Kovetski recalled thinking immediately that the request was fake, as they only had a couple of hundred subscribers on their YouTube channel.
But before they knew it, Kovetski and his brother were competing in the final round of the nationally televised competition, in front of celebrity judges, thousands of people in the audience, and millions of viewers at home.
"It was the most surreal, incredible experience ever," Kovetski says. "We'd only played in front of our family and at a restaurant party. Never anything this big."
Amidst all the excitement of performing on the national stage, Kovetski's grandfather's reaction to the brothers' audition, which received a standing ovation from all four celebrity judges and the entirety of the packed concert hall, was the most meaningful and memorable part of the experience.
"After the performance, we look over to the wings and our grandpa is crying," he recalls fondly. "It was probably the most emotionally touching moment. As a 13-year-old kid, I really didn't fully get it, but just thinking back to what that moment meant to him-he came to this country with his cello and a dream, and seeing us on that stage meant the realization of his American dream."
After the performance, the brothers' subscriber count on their YouTube channel skyrocketed, growing from a modest 400 to over 40,000 and millions of views. They also continued to travel, playing music just as their grandfather did.
The Road to Dentistry
As the brothers continued their musical pursuits, they also became eager to begin their journey towards becoming dentists, largely inspired by their father, a practicing general dentist in North Miami, Florida.
"There are three generations of dentists on my dad's side, and three generations of musicians on my mom's side," says Kovetski. "I feel incredibly lucky that we grew up in a musical family, and that dentistry found us at a point in life when my brother and I were looking for meaning. Dentistry is a vessel through which we knew we would have a profound impact on people's lives, and that's when we started thinking about how we can specialize our skillsets to take our training as far as we can."
After graduating from the University of Florida with a Microbiology and Cell Science Degree, Kovetski received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of North Carolina Adams School of Dentistry.
When it was time to choose a specialty, prosthodontics was a no-brainer for Kovetski. To him, it is a specialty that contains a great deal of artistry, reminding him of his musical background.
"I draw a parallel between musical performance and prosthodontics a lot of times. We often see patients who require a lot of complex work, many of whom come to us with no teeth or failing teeth, and they want a functional, highly aesthetic smile again.
"Artistry is in everything we do as prosthodontists. If I had to summarize what we do, it is a marriage between classical engineering principles and artistry. Patients seek our care when they are looking for a highly functional, beautiful smile. It's also incredibly hands-on; whether we are designing a new smile or performing implant surgery, we are using our hands to craft our creative vision for our patients. Prosthodontics is the specialty of harmoniously integrating beauty, biomechanics, and engineering, all rooted in science. The thing that really attracted me to the specialty is I get to be a doctor who practices as an artist."
UConn Graduate Prosthodontics was a dream program for Kovetski. As a dental student, he heard a great deal about the program's national reputation and closely followed the work of program director, Dr. Avinash Bidra.
"Speaking with prosthodontists, both in private practice and at conferences, they all said, you have to go to UConn, they're doing stuff on another level," Kovetski says. "I also spoke with the residents at UConn and learned about their experience in the program firsthand. It was clear to me that this residency would give me an exceptional education in prosthodontics. That made me laser-focused on getting into this program."
Several months into his first year of residency, the program exceeded his expectations. Kovetski enjoys the robust, one-on-one, hands-on teaching approach, which reminds him of his cello lessons with his grandfather.
"There are only seven residents total in the program, and we are getting one-on-one attention," he says. "It is remarkably similar to how, in music, I grew up being classically trained by my grandpa; it was always one-on-one master classes. Similarly, in residency, every one of our individual strengths and weaknesses gets highlighted. You're doing great here, you're deficient there. I want to work with you on this, and we can take it easy here. It's truly a masterclass education to use a music analogy."
Kovetski also admires the rigorous nature of the program, noting how, from the beginning, he and his fellow residents jumped in "headfirst."
"We have already gotten through so many fundamental courses and gotten exposure to advanced patient care," he says. "It's extremely accelerated. I thought I was busy in undergrad, and then I thought I was busy in dental school. Residency is on a completely new level. It's very fast-paced."
Growing up in Florida and going to dental school in North Carolina, Kovetski says he doesn't mind enduring New England weather for a world-class education in prosthodontics.
"The winters are part of the challenge. So far, it's kept me motivated to stay busy. Next stop after Connecticut is the North Pole," Kovetski jokes. "I can always play the cello to stay warm!"
Looking to the Future
Even though the prosthodontics program at UConn is rigorous, and the specialty is a sufficient creative outlet for him, Dariel continues to make time to play his cello daily, saying that it is essential for his overall mental health and well-being.
After residency, Kovetski intends to continue to carry on his family's legacy, blending music and dentistry. He has plans to work with his brother, a practicing periodontist, and open a multispecialty practice back home in Florida.
And will they continue to play music together as dentists, running their own family practice?
"Of course," he says. "It never stops!"
