5 Questions with Yeimi Bartolon Perez ’26
Standing alone on the stage in Boll Theatre during the Stander Symposium, a daylong student research extravaganza, Yeimi Bartolon Perez ’26 spoke of smiles, told the audience to say “cheese” and took a selfie with them.
1 — What led you to the research for your honors thesis, “Crossing Borders: Ways to Address Oral Health Disparities in Guatemala and U.S. Latinx Communities?” My parents are both from Guatemala; each had seven siblings. My mother, one of the older children, had to work from a young age. Care for her teeth was often just brushing with her finger using salt or baking soda. She had to have all her teeth removed. That led to my research and wanting to be a dentist.
2 — In Guatemala in the summer of 2025, you surveyed 175 people. What did you find? I learned that the problem was not a lack of awareness. It was a lack of access. For many people, preventative care simply wasn’t accessible. Three-quarters of those interviewed reported barriers such as distance to dental clinics, costly public transportation or no access to a vehicle. One woman, after a dental appointment, realized she could not afford more; she told me, “I don’t want to grow old without my teeth.” I learned things I could not learn from statistics or textbooks.
3 — What did you find in the United States? Here, Latinx communities revealed a different picture. Geography is not as big of an issue, but barriers remained, such as lack of insurance, discrimination and difficulty navigating the systems. One of my courses at UD was in medical Spanish. It introduced me to clinical terms I wouldn’t have known. Now I can advocate for preventative oral health practices within Latinx families and communities.
4 — Have other experiences enhanced what you learned in your research? Between terms this year, I went to Ecuador and shadowed dentists. It was similar to Guatemala. Dentistry there is very different from that in the U.S. Here everything is very clean, sterilized. In a Latin American dental office there is no nurse, no dental assistant to help the dentist with such tasks. I also gained experience last summer working with an oral maxillofacial surgeon.
5 — What are you doing after UD? Next year, I’ll be at Ohio State in a postbaccalaureate program with guaranteed admission to OSU’s College of Dentistry. After that four-year program, I’m planning on a four- or six-year residency with the goal of being an oral maxillofacial surgeon. I hope then to be able to spend some time helping the people of Guatemala, the homeland of my parents.
A version of this article appears in print in the Summer 2026 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 9. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE