New Practitioner Spotlight: Drs. Tara Habibi and Priya Sapra Kullar

Compiled by Dr. Moein Sadrkhani

Two AAE members, Drs. Tara Habibi and Priya Sapra Kullar, made the news for being the first to receive Specialty Certificates in Endodontics from the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Moein Sadrkhani recently caught up with them and learned more about their journey to endo.

The Paper Point: Tell us about yourself and what made you like endodontics.

Dr. Tara Habibi: My name is Tara Habibi, and I am a newly graduated endodontist from Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine! I was born and raised in central Illinois (Springfield), where my parents still reside. My parents immigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon to being a new life prior to getting married in 1989. I have two sisters, Natalia and Maya, who are both currently practicing general dentists. We all attended Southern Illinois University for our DMDs.

While on a mission trip to Jamaica performing many extractions before my fourth year of dental school, I felt fulfilled being able to take patients out of pain but frustrated wishing we could have saved more teeth with endodontics. Although endodontics was not a procedure I performed on the trip, I unknowingly at the time felt a push in that direction. I am happy to be in a position now to provide this service for patients.

Dr. Priya Sapra Kullar: My name is Priya Sapra Kullar and I graduated recently from the Endodontic Residency program at Southern Illinois University school of Dental Medicine. I was born and raised in New Delhi, the capital city of India. I went to dental school and earned a master’s degree in Conservative dentistry and Endodontics from India in 2016. After practicing briefly in India, I relocated to the U.S. in 2016 to be with my husband who is now training to be an orthodontist. I got accepted into the international advanced placement program in 2018 and graduated with DMD in 2020 from Southern Illinois University school of Dental Medicine before starting the Endodontic Residency Program.

When I was in dental school, I truly enjoyed every facet of dentistry but the fondest memories I have is when I did my first RCT. The joy of relieving the patient’s pain was so gratifying and since then my interest continued to grow towards endodontics. Since I was always passionate about endodontics and found my true calling in endodontics, I decided to pursue endodontics in the USA as well. It has been a long arduous journey, but I am truly happy to be able to do what I really love doing for the rest of my life.

The Paper Point: How did you find out about your program and how was the experience of being first residents?

Dr. Habibi: While attending SIU SDM, my interest in endodontics grew through my clinical experiences, and I was blessed to have the opportunity to begin the new endodontic residency to be accredited the fall of 2020. I became aware that SIU was hoping to start a new endodontic program, but I did not have any understanding of the process for this program to start. When I realized the program would likely start in the fall of 2020, I was sure to contact our program director, Dr. Leigh Speer. The experience was nice as the department started small, and we became like a family. It was cool to help mold the program into what it is now, but exciting to know that it will continue to grow and change over time, as our field does.

Dr. Kullar: While I was finishing DMD, I was looking into applying to different endodontic programs and discussed about my interest in endodontics residency with our faculty at the school. It is then when I was made aware that SIU was hoping to start a new endodontic program in Fall 2020.

I feel lucky to have this opportunity of being the first residents. Since we were a small group, I enjoyed the one -on-one learning. The experience was nice, and the program exceeded my expectations. I am really excited to see it evolve in future as well.

The Paper Point: Both of you have different dental backgrounds and experiences before starting residency; how did this help during your program?

Dr. Habibi: Priya was such a valuable person to have as my co-resident! Her previous experience in endodontics and her incredible knowledge in the theory provided me with great mentorship. Despite our differences in background, our similarities in personality type allowed us to motivate each other along the way. We never failed to spend time at the end of our days, reviewing different cases we each had.

Dr. Kullar: I second what Tara said! Despite our different backgrounds, both of us are very similar as persons. It was wonderful having Tara as a co-resident! We never missed an opportunity to discuss about our difficult cases, literature, research etc. and this helped us learn so much from each other during this journey.

The Paper Point:  You were both classmates during DDS, did this help to be co residents?

Dr. Habibi: Priya and I did not know each other well during our DMD program, but we became close very quickly! I believe having a similar clinical education from our program helped as co-residents, especially in treatment planning cases. In residency, we grew in our knowledge together, while bringing our differences to the table, ultimately helping us become specialists in our field.

Dr. Kullar: Even though Tara and I did not get to spend a lot of time together during our DMD days. Once in residency, we got to know each other well and became really good friends. Since we both were trained in the same institution for our DMDs, it did help us in having a similar thought process that goes into managing a case.

The Paper Point: What was the best memory of your residency?

Dr. Habibi: Some of my favorite memories from residency were my experiences at the AAE 2022 and APICES 2021/22 with my co-residents! We had a great time at all meetings; learning while getting to know others in our specialty and experiencing different cities together.

Dr. Kullar: This is so hard to pick! I have a lot of great memories from residency. Your co-residents become an extended family and there are so many milestones to celebrate along the way…weddings, graduations, birthdays, etc., to name a few. I really enjoyed my time with my fellow residents at the meetings as well!

The Paper Point: Tell us more about your AAE experience and presentations.

Dr. Habibi: My experience at the AAE was incredible; I saw some amazing lectures and learned so much! My presentation at the AAE involved a table clinic for my project entitled, “The Effect of an Educational Intervention Perceptions of Infection Control Clinical Practices in a Dental School Environment”, the second party of a two-part study. This study overall was a study performed to understand dental student’s infection control practices and their perceptions of the importance of infection control, as a function of infection control training. It was ultimately found that audio-visual training positively impacted infection control practices as well as perceptions.

Dr. Kullar: The AAE meeting in Phoenix was a wonderful experience! This was actually my first in-person AAE meeting and I had a great time! I enjoyed the lectures, learning and meeting new people in the field of endodontics from different parts of the world.

I presented a poster on my original research that I did during my residency. The research was based on the assessment of the antibacterial efficacy of calcium-silicate sealers against a multi-species biofilm in the human root dentine using Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy. I was passionate about doing this project because I see a trend towards bioceramic sealers, but I noted there was limited literature regarding the effectiveness of these sealers against a multispecies biofilm which is frequently encountered in a root canal infection.

The Paper Point: Was the residency tougher than what you thought it would be?

Dr. Habibi: I did not have many expectations going into an endodontic residency program; I was naïve about what it would be. For that reason, it was tougher than I thought because I truly didn’t know what to expect. With endodontics, I believe that you don’t know what you don’t know, and there is so much to learn that you don’t realize until you are there.

Dr. Kullar: It did seem hard initially because there were so many new things to learn. There were some hard days and some good days but the fun and supportive environment that we shared as a small group helped us see the positive in everything and helped us hone our skills to become better clinicians with every passing day. I believe in a specialty like ours which is constantly evolving, it never gets boring and there’s something new to learn each day!

The Paper Point: How was your recent APICES experience?

Dr. Habibi: My recent APICES experience was great! Unfortunately, as a second year, you can’t get back that initial excitement about endo conferences from the previous year, but I still had a great time!

Dr. Kullar: My recent APICES experience was great! I enjoyed learning in depth about our specialty and spending time with my fellow residents from across the country.

The Paper Point: What is next? You did dental school and residency together; will you work together as well?

Dr. Habibi: We have discussed partnering together since we know we work well together; only time will tell!

Dr. Kullar: Wouldn’t that be interesting!! Well, Tara and I have thought about possibly working together in future since we get along so well but only time will tell!

For now, I have joined a private practice as a full-time associate. I also see myself devoting some time to teaching in future. I am so excited to see what lies ahead for the both of us!

The Paper Point: Any last words for our readers?

Dr. Habibi: I am looking forward to a fulfilling career in endodontics!

Dr. Kullar: Thank you for taking the time to read this story! Good luck to everyone! Keep going for your dreams and never give up!

Dr. Moein Sadrkhani is chair of the AAE’s Resident and New Practitioner Committee.