Dr. Ronak Mukesh Khokhani

If you had asked me as a child what I wanted to become, the answer would never have been a dentist.

It was always a pilot.

The sky fascinated me long before I understood what dentistry was. Like many dreams, however, life had other plans. Responsibilities came first. Opportunities came later. And sometimes, the path you're meant to walk isn't the one you imagined.

Healthcare entered my life first through pharmacy, and eventually through dentistry. What began as a profession slowly became something much deeper. I realised I wasn't just restoring teeth—I was restoring confidence, relieving pain and changing lives one patient at a time.

In 2016, I founded Mint Dental Clinic with a simple promise: to create a practice built on trust, technology and uncompromising ethics. Every patient would receive the same care I would want for my own family.

Over the years, that vision grew into one of Mumbai's leading digital dental practices, but success never made me forget the dream that had quietly waited in the background all those years.

Aviation.

Most people assume dreams have an expiry date.

I don't.

Years after building a successful dental practice, I decided it was finally time to honour the promise I had made to my younger self. I travelled to the United States to pursue my flight training—not as an eighteen-year-old student, but as a practising clinician, entrepreneur and husband.

Ironically, everything dentistry had taught me made aviation easier.

I completed my flight training in just seven months. Along the way, hearing words of encouragement from my instructors and FAA examiners reaffirmed something I had always believed: dreams don't become impossible with age—they become achievable with experience.

Many people expected the next chapter to be commercial aviation. I even earned a Letter of Intent from IndiGo, proving to myself that I could compete at that level.

But somewhere along the journey, another realisation emerged.

I didn't want to spend my life flying someone else's aircraft.

I wanted to build something of my own.

My goal today isn't simply to become a commercial airline pilot. It is to own and fly my own aircraft by 2037—a dream that represents freedom, entrepreneurship and the belief that success should create possibilities, not limitations.

People often ask me how dentistry and aviation can coexist.

To me, they have always been connected.

Most importantly, both place someone's trust in your hands.

Every patient who walks into Mint Dental Clinic deserves the same level of preparation, safety and precision that every passenger expects from a pilot. That philosophy shapes every treatment we provide.

Today, I continue building Mint Dental Clinic alongside my wife, Dr. Khushboo, and our incredible team, while also continuing my aviation journey.

I don't believe life asks us to choose between purpose and passion.

Sometimes, if we're patient enough, courageous enough and willing to keep learning, we get to live both.

This is only the beginning.

There are more smiles to create.

More skies to explore.

And many more dreams still waiting to take flight.