It was always
orthodontics.
Clara grew up in a family of orthodontists. Both of her uncles were pioneers in the field, trained at one of Colombia's top universities, and watching them work shaped how she saw good care long before she was a teenager.
By her first day of dental school, she already knew where she was headed. Not because it was the family profession, but because she'd seen what it does for people: the teenager who stops covering their smile, the adult who put it off for years and then wonders why they waited so long.
"I've seen what orthodontics does for a person's confidence. That's not something you forget."
She qualified as a dentist, specialized in orthodontics, and spent several years in high-volume clinics, where the days are packed and the time with each patient is short. It was good training, and it also showed her the kind of practice she wanted to build instead.
So she opened her own. Today she treats patients in Barranquilla, along with a growing number who travel from abroad for Invisalign, drawn by the quality of care and the lower cost. She works in both Spanish and English, and she'll tell you straight what she recommends.
Twenty years in, she still finds the work genuinely interesting. That's the part she didn't expect.
