Charles Gomez graduated high school in 2011 with plans for art school — until the cost put it out of reach. “I just didn’t have the resources to even consider that,” he says.
He enrolled at Diablo Valley College instead, took general education classes, and picked up a part-time cashier job at Chipotle in 2013 to cover the bills. That job turned into its own education: within three or four years, Charles had worked his way up to general manager, running a restaurant and a team he hadn’t pictured himself leading.
“I’m more introverted,” he says. “I never really envisioned myself being a manager, but I was very proud of that accomplishment.”
The pride was real — so was the toll of 50-plus-hour weeks. But Chipotle’s benefits had also opened a door his family had never had growing up: regular dental care. Seeing a dentist regularly for the first time, Charles found himself looking forward to the appointments.
“I really thoroughly enjoyed going to the dentist, and I know a lot of people can’t say that,” he says. “A smile builds your confidence. It’s the first thing people notice — it kind of shows your personality.”
The thought took hold: why not do this? Dental hygiene offered a two-year program, a science track he already understood, and the work-life balance restaurant management never gave him.
Charles finished his prerequisites at DVC by 2022, was waitlisted on his first application, and got in on his second attempt in 2024 — by which point he’d coincidentally moved five minutes from campus. He stepped back to a reduced role at Chipotle, worked roughly one day a week, and covered the gap with a student loan in year one and a Pell Grant in year two.
Unlike many classmates who arrived with years of chairside experience, Charles started with none. “I’m starting from scratch,” he says, without a trace of discouragement. He’s now weighing a temp-agency route through rotating dental offices, plus a role with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, where dental hygienists are in high demand — an option he found through a classroom presentation.
Charles is also bilingual in Tagalog, a skill he put to direct use through DVC’s partnership with a low-income, Spanish-speaking clinic in Napa — exactly the kind of regional clinical placement BACCC works to expand across dental hygiene programs, giving students real-world hours in the communities that need them most.
He’s also a rarity in his cohort — the only male student, one of very few men in the field. His main advice for future students: a short orientation to dental anatomy before the program starts, since “half of the class didn’t have dental experience.”
“It’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life,” he says. “It’s fulfilling. I’m not sure it’s even hit me yet.”