Romina Perri (Health Sciences, 2003) is a periodontist, clinic owner and served for two years as the president of the Association des parodontistes du Québec.
Perri, who owns a specialty dental clinic in Brossard, has advanced post-graduate surgical training in periodontics and implant dentistry.
As president of the association, she was involved in an effort to educate the population about the work of periodontists.
“We’ve been trying to do a lot of work to bring awareness to the Quebec population that dental specialists exist,” she said. “It’s been fun and a challenge to sort of educate the population at a different level.”
Perri, who completed her Master’s in Periodontology at the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill, said that Americans in general have a much higher awareness of the role of dental specialists.
“People don’t know about it here like they know about it in the U.S.,” she said. “We exist for a reason, just like medical specialists. You wouldn’t see your GP to have open heart surgery.”
Perri said she jumped at the chance to get involved with the association in 2016, where she served as Treasurer, Secretary and then most recently as President. With her term as president having just come to an end, she still sits on the executive committee.
“It’s nice to be able to be involved in these associations and to have a say about how specialists like myself get to practice in our province.”
Perri said that she knew early on what she wanted to do with her life.
“I always had an interest in science and I knew that the medical field interested me, but it was during my time in Cegep that I started shadowing dentists on Christmas break and holidays,” she said.
“There was this interesting side of being your own boss, owning your own business, working in an environment where you are the one who makes the decision.”
While studying at Champlain Saint-Lambert, Perri applied for the Loran Award given out by the Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation. She ended up winning, becoming one of a select few to be given the most prestigious scholarship in the country and securing a full ride to McGill University.
She completed her studies in dentistry in 2008 and her Master’s in 2011.
A year later, Perri opened up her clinic in Brossard and is now celebrating the 10th anniversary of her business.
Perri’s advice for current students and recent grads: “The best thing to do is use the first year of Cegep to explore a lot of career possibilities and to find something that interests you. The second years is to explore that career option more. Once you find something you love, go and reach out to people who are in that career.”
