All 7 are dentists and hot. Meet the Asian-American family blowing up social media
Chloe Loung Published: 7:15am, 12 Apr 2026Updated: 10:19am, 13 Apr 2026
The Chen family shot to social media stardom over their shared career, good looks and closeness – all achieved without tiger parenting
Meet the Chens. Heading the household are Dr Leon Chen, a dental implant pioneer, and Dr Jennifer Cha, a co-founder of an international clinic chain. Their five children – Nina, Audree, Niq, Aleq and Nasdaq – all practise dentistry.
They came to attention online three years ago when Niq started posting his personal vlogs, a form of visual diary, on YouTube and TikTok. The vlogs occasionally offered a glimpse into his Asian-American family that happened to have seven dentists around one dinner table.
A single video introducing the roster posted in January this year racked up over 92 million views on Instagram, prompting Reddit threads and comments from people around the world fixated not only on their profession, but also on how good-looking the Chens were.
“Why are they all so hot?” one user mused in a subreddit titled “Asian family final boss”.
Leon was born into a family of doctors in Changhua, Taiwan, in 1966. As a young boy he was sent to the US to live in Saginaw, a remote town in the US state of Michigan. In his 2012 memoir published in Taiwan, he recalls hiding in the vast cornfields to cry because he felt so alone and abandoned at the time.
That isolation fuelled a relentless drive: he completed four years of university in one, scored the highest on the Dental Admission Test in a decade, and earned an unprecedented early admission to the Harvard School of Dental Medicine as one of its youngest students ever on a full scholarship.
In 1995, during his periodontics training at the Northwestern University Dental School in Chicago, he invented the hydraulic sinus condensing technique. This technique revolutionised the challenging sinus lift procedure by using water pressure with a patented sinus bur to gently lift the sinus membrane, creating a safe space for bone grafting through a single, minimally invasive entry point.
(From left to right) Niq, Aleq, Leon, Jennifer, Nasdaq, Audree and Nina when the children were young. Photo: Niq Chen
Together, these foundational techniques turned complex, year-long procedures into streamlined, single-appointment treatments. These innovations quickly became industry benchmarks.
Cha, who was born in South Korea and grew up in the US, was already a practising periodontist when their paths crossed. It was 1995, and she had returned to Northwestern University to visit her old school when she spotted a handsome second-year graduate student – and decided “to bring him back to Las Vegas”, where her practice was located.
“I offered him a job,” she says with a smile.
“I thought that was a good start,” Leon says, “especially with a pretty boss.”
Together, they built the Dental Implant Institute in 1998 and the OsseoFuse One Drill Implant System a decade later, both based in Las Vegas. But perhaps their biggest pride and joy is raising five children – Nina, Audree, Niq, Aleq and Nasdaq, each born a year apart – and watching every single one choose dentistry.
But instead of taking the traditional route in the US – a four-year undergraduate degree followed by dental school – the parents proposed an alternate route: go straight to dental school in Europe. All five children started their dental education at the Universidad Europea de Madrid in Spain, before pursuing advanced training in the US.
The family had fallen in love with Spain during a summer holiday in 2014. The beaches, the architecture, the late-night energy – it all felt right. But there was a practical advantage, too. In Spain, as in much of Europe and parts of Asia, students can enter dental school directly after school, shaving four years off the American track.
The siblings at dental school in Spain. They fell in love with the country after a holiday there in 2014. Photo: Niq Chen
Audree, the second child, went to Tufts University in Massachusetts, where she earned a postgraduate degree and a joint master’s in prosthodontics.
Niq was trained at New York’s Columbia University and specialises in periodontics.
The fourth child, Aleq, followed Audree to Tufts and also specialises in prosthodontics.
The youngest, Nasdaq, joined Nina at New York University, where he earned a postdoctoral degree in implantology.
The siblings have authored research papers, presented at international conferences together and now all work for OsseoFuse One Drill Implant System, while completing their residencies in their separate cities.
The five siblings pictured in 2004. Photo: Niq Chen
Despite what many might assume, Leon and Jennifer never fit the mould of typical Asian tiger parents. All five siblings insist their upbringing was remarkably relaxed.
“People think our parents were really strict,” says Audree, now 28. “But they weren’t strict at all. They were more like our friends.”
Niq, 27, agrees. “People on the internet may think our parents pushed or forced us to do all of this. If anything, our nanny was the one who taught us what was right and what was wrong.”
That nanny – Emilia Calderon, their Spanish-speaking Peruvian housekeeper – was the household’s unexpected disciplinarian. Every morning, she would sit the children down and tell them stories of the poverty she grew up in.
Nasdaq, 25, recalls doing chores next to her as a child. “I’ll be doing dishes, and she’ll be like, ‘Your hands hurting? This is what you’ll be doing all your life if you don’t take advantage of what your parents’ hard work has given you.’”
The family credits their nanny, Emilia, for the siblings’ success in school. Photo: Niq Chen
“Osmosis,” says Nina, 29. The parents took a radically hands-off approach, and simply let their children be around dentistry.
At the dinner table, their parents would show photos of bloody cases. On weekends, pig heads appeared for suturing practice. No strict schedules. No forced study sessions.
“In a way, I chose dentistry just because I wanted a reason to be closer to them,” Nina says.
If there was pressure to perform and excel in the family, that came from the siblings themselves.
“Having siblings all one year apart, all going towards the same profession, kind of pushed us to have this friendly, competitive dynamic where we actually kind of push each other to graduate and become where we are today,” Niq says.
“It’s so nice to see five of them sit together and study,” Leon says. “Since grade school, and into high school, and then into college, they still sit together to study for the final exam. They just help each other.”
It was a mobile support system that followed them from lecture halls and late-night study sessions to family trips all over Europe, whether it be Morocco, Germany, Italy or Switzerland.
“They’re hilarious people,” says 26-year-old Aleq of his siblings. That sentiment runs through every conversation with the family. Before this interview, the siblings had a call of their own – “just to prepare,” he says – but they spent the entire time laughing and getting nowhere.
The Chen siblings say that their best times have been with each other. Photo: Niq Chen
“Making friends was a little more difficult sometimes,” Audree says, “because I always thought, ‘It’s fine – I have my friends at home.’ Only children are very social butterflies. I was just like, ‘Oh, whatever. I have them.’”
“If one of us makes a friend, you become friends with all five of us,” Niq says.
“If there’s no sibling around and I’m going out with friends, it’s a solid six,” Audree says. “A fun night, sure. But when the family is together?”
Aleq agrees. “The best times I’ve ever had weren’t really with friends. There was always a sibling there.”
This tight-knit dynamic has convinced each of them to want large families of their own as well. Leon has always said he wanted a family “big enough for a basketball team” – and now his children are aiming for the same.
As for whether they would like to pass the dentistry baton to the next generation, they say they are not opposed to the idea, but it is also not the goal.
After all, Niq is a passionate filmmaker. Nina has always loved baking. Audree is deeply drawn to music, and Nasdaq has such a knack for cooking that Jennifer swears he will “end up opening a restaurant”.
Even if none of them could practise tomorrow, they would still be happy knowing they have each other.
“Of course kids fight when they’re young,” Nasdaq says, “but in the end you’re born with four best friends.”
相關連結：
South China Morning Post報導
2026.04.13-All 7 are dentists and hot. Meet the Asian (South China Morning Post).pdf
