Mississauga Smiles: A Filipino Dentist’s Search for Love
Mississauga Smiles: A Filipino Dentist’s Search for Love
By: Qusai Qaoud
Born in 1958, Dr. William Rodriguez grew up in a suburb that is part of Metro Manila called Quezon City in the Philippines. Dr. Rodriguez immigrated to Canada at the age of 26 for his long-lasting high school sweetheart. Prior to coming to Canada, Rodriguez had moved around quite a bit in his life. In fact, his earliest memories of growing up in the Philippines, of “playing with other kids in the neighbourhood”, and other such childhood memories, only extend until he was five years old when, at this tender age, he left his homeland.
At the age of five, Rodriguez moved to the United States because his dad wanted to pursue his career in oil drilling. A young Rodriguez immigrated to Seattle, Washington to stay with his aunt, while his dad moved to Odessa, Texas, as some of the biggest oil drilling companies were there. His dad would visit Rodriguez and his older brother every weekend for a couple of years. Then, the two brothers moved to Montana to be with their mother and their infant sister for a year while their mother attended university. It was a relatively easy transition for Rodriguez, as he arrived when he was just a kid, so there was less responsibility and no language barrier shifting from Filipino to English. He says, “English was part of what was spoken at home. […] It was actually more English than Filipino.” When it came time to return to the Philippines, it was, in fact, a harder transition as Rodriguez struggled with his native Filipino tongue.
Instead of moving back to Metro Manila, where he originally lived, Rodriguez moved to Davao City, where his grandfather resided, and this city had a different dialect completely compared to Manila, making the adjustment that much trickier. Rodriguez remarks on a story from school where he felt out of place: “And so the way we pronounce words in the Philippines is totally different [than in English]. The ‘J’ is pronounced like an ‘H’. So I got laughed at, at school because I was pronouncing words the American way. […] So when I was reading a book […] about one of the Filipino heroes, I [read] his name as Emilio Jacinto, [pronouncing it as a ‘J’ instead of an ‘H’] and the whole class laugh, and I told my mom, ‘That’s it, I’m not going back to school.’”
Slowly, but surely, Rodriguez was able to pick up this new dialect and adjust to his new life in Davao. He remained in the city of Davao until Grade six, when he moved back to Manila and graduated from high school and dental school there, becoming the Dr. Rodriguez. As a result of his upbringing, Dr. Rodriguez grew to have a deep love and appreciation for his heritage and culture as a Filipino, vowing to hold close his country’s traditions and culture. Dr. Rodriguez did well for himself as a practicing dentist and loved his home, so it was for these reasons that the prospect of leaving was made even harder, but people will do crazy things for love!
You see, Dr. Rodriguez had dated a girl named Joyce during his high school years, but the two had separated when she left to continue her high school education in Canada. At the time, there was no email or social media available, which led him to resort to the classic pen and paper. Over the course of two years, they diligently wrote letters back and forth to each other. It was a tantalizing two weeks waiting for the mail to be delivered. Over time, they became preoccupied with important matters, and it became increasingly difficult to communicate, leading them to lose contact with one another. Later, they were able to reconvene through Dr. Rodriguez’s cousin, who was good friends with Joyce. Joyce then began visiting Dr. Rodriguez on multiple occasions during her vacation days, allowing them to properly reconnect. Dr. Rodriguez remarks about the experience when he saw her again saying, “She was totally changed, like a totally different person. Having lived in Canada [since] she was 13, it totally changed her. She was so Canadian.” Joyce suggested that Dr. Rodriguez move to Canada with her. Rodriguez accepted and left his family to join his sweetheart where she was living in Mississauga.
When Dr. Rodriguez first arrived at Toronto Pearson Airport in the summer of 1984, he was shocked at how hot the weather was considering Canada’s reputation for being awfully cold. It seemed he had much to learn about his new home. Together, Dr. Rodriguez and Joyce moved into an apartment in Malton, where they grew many fond memories. “Malton has been a memorable place for me because that’s where I learned to take the [transport], that’s where I learned how to bike around and looked at how beautiful Mississauga was,” Dr. Rodriguez reminisced. Soon, he began to fall in love with the city, and the couple welcomed their first baby into their new and happy life in Mississauga.
It was not all sunshine and rainbows for Dr. Rodriguez, however, as he initially struggled to continue his career of dentistry in Canada. As a new immigrant, Dr. Rodriguez was warned that he would not be able to practice dentistry in Canada without Canadian credentials despite his schooling back in the Philippines. At the time, Dr. Rodriguez had friends who were practicing dentists in Toronto who told him that it was far too difficult to continue his profession in Canada and advised him to go back to the Philippines. Determined as he was, Dr. Rodriguez told himself that if his friends could do it, so could he. He proceeded to write his board exam, which had a passing rate between four and eight percent. Many of the brightest minds never make those odds. Dr. Rodriguez remembers, “it was so difficult that you had to look for a needle in the haystack, and once you found that needle you have to go through the hole.” Dr. Rodriguez unfortunately did not pass the exam after four attempts, but he refused to give up.
Dr. Rodriguez’s first job in Canada was working in a dental lab, where he would operate mostly with his hands, making dental crowns, ceramics, and dentures. Over time, however, his interest in lab work waned and he switched to working as a sales representative for a dental sales company in Mississauga. During this time, Dr. Rodriguez was working and studying for his exam all at the same time. So, every day he would work from seven in the morning until noon and study from noon until about five o’clock. Dr. Rodriguez was not able to see his family often as he had a clinical setup in his basement where he would practice dental techniques on mannequins for most of the night on top of the studying he would do earlier in the day. Since Dr. Rodriguez was good with his hands and knew how to work the materials, he was able to effectively, as a sales rep, sell new dental equipment to dentists in Ontario because he could easily convince them using that first-hand dental experience that he learned in the lab. Using this experience, Dr. Rodriguez was able to successfully pass all components of his board exam and set up his own practice in Mississauga.
Dr. Rodriguez describes his motivation to work so hard when he says, “I don’t want to regret one day sitting in a rocking chair and tell myself, ‘I wonder what would’ve happened if I really tried to become a dentist’.” His dream was something he had to do no matter what. He chased his dreams across the globe, from the Philippines to Mississauga. In the end, he landed not only his love, but also his passion. Dr. Rodriguez’s story of hard work and determination is truly inspiring, particularly seeing the difference he has made by putting smiles on so many Mississauga faces.