Now back home in Winnipeg, MDS has left a lasting impression on the way he practices.

Dr Matthew Rykiss (DDS 2014) was in Grade 3 when he knew he wanted to become a dentist. Perhaps that’s not surprising when one of his uncles was a dentist and the other was an orthodontist.

“From the age of 14 I worked for my uncle, the dentist, during summer holidays. I’d set up his procedures, sterilise equipment and watch him work and thought ‘I could do that’. I never veered from that path,” says Dr Rykiss.

After studying science at the University of Manitoba, that ‘path’ led Dr Rykiss from his home in Winnipeg to the Melbourne Dental School.

“I was researching dental schools in Canada and the US and preparing my applications, but at the same time my friend and I were planning a holiday to Australia. At 2 o’clock one morning we were talking about that trip when my friend asked if I could apply to any dental schools in Australia.

I went online, found Melbourne Dental School and realised I had all the prerequisites. I read about the program and how wellrespected the school was, and it felt like destiny — I called the school straight away he recalls.

Dr Rykiss discovered that the closing date to apply for the Doctor of Dental Surgery program had just passed that day in Australia, but thanks to international time zones, it hadn’t closed yet in Canada. He was permitted to submit a last-minute application and a few months later he was accepted and had to tell his girlfriend, now wife, and family that he was moving to Melbourne. His girlfriend joined him in Melbourne a year later.

Importantly, a reciprocal agreement between Canada and Australia meant Dr Rykiss could write his National Dental Examining Board of Canada exam and practise when he returned to Canada.

Dr Rykiss says studying at MDS lived up to his expectations and the school impacts how he practises every day in his own clinic in Winnipeg.

“MDS emphasised basing clinical decisions on what research shows while also being open-minded in clinical decision-making. We were encouraged to delve into why something is happening, to ask the right questions, to put patients at ease and to build trust,” he says.

“Our teachers created a positive atmosphere so we could become the best possible clinicians and enjoy practising. There are challenges every day in dentistry because you are constantly trying to relieve pain and not hurt people. ‘Painless and gentle’ is the motto in my practice and that came from what I learned at MDS.”

After graduating in 2014, Dr Rykiss worked in dental practices in Melbourne for three and a half years before returning to Canada. His cohort celebrates their 10th anniversary this year and Dr Rykiss is helping to organise a reunion in early 2025.

Of the approximately 80 people in his cohort, at least 20 were international students from other parts of Canada, the US, Korea and South-East Asia. Many of them have stayed connected and Dr Rykiss hopes as many of his fellow graduates as possible will make the pilgrimage to Melbourne to share their experiences since graduating.

Some of the people I studied with are still my best friends he says.

“While I was studying at MDS, my girlfriend and I got married in Winnipeg and at least 12 people from my class and our friendship group travelled to Canada to be at our wedding. It probably set a record for the most Australians in Winnipeg at any one time!”

Stay in touch with your cohort. Update your details: alumni.unimelb.edu.au/alumni