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“I never imagined how connected I’d feel to my patients or just how much impact people in our field can have on the health of the whole person.”

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Ten years ago, John Machi, DDS, FAGD, was serving in the U.S. Navy as a foreign language cryptologist deployed in Afghanistan. During his service, he applied to dental school at Marquette University. Schoolwork intensified his desire to help others. 

“While in dental school, I had the opportunity to volunteer at a dental clinic in Jamaica,” Machi said. “I loved helping people who truly needed it. When I got home, I knew I wanted to do more, but I had to finish dental school, and I couldn’t do that overseas.” 

Then, the lightbulb sparked. 

“An inability to travel didn’t mean an inability to help people,” Machi said. “I realized that there are people here — people in our own communities — who needed better access to care.” 

“Dr. Machi’s father is a dentist, but John chose to enter the military service and move up in the ranks in a special field,” said Charnesky, who has followed Machi’s career with great interest. 

Earning his FAGD has been an empowering accomplishment for Machi in his first few years of practice. He saw the results of his hard work when he applied AGD’s COVID-19 guidelines to treating patients.   

“At the start of the pandemic, I kept patients out of the emergency room,” Machi said. “With what I learned through AGD, I decreased their exposure to COVID-19.” 

For Machi, the most surprising aspect of dentistry is how interconnected his passion for helping others is to the dental profession.   

“I knew dentistry was more than just a job focused on teeth,” he said. “What I didn’t know was just how much more it would be. I never imagined how connected I’d feel to my patients or just how much impact people in our field can have on the health of the whole person.”