As many of my patients know, my family is pretty multinational, my parents are doctors in Malawi, my sister and family are in Kenya and my older brother is in Michigan, USA. I guess the main advantage to this is that I have nice places to go on holiday and that I have never felt obliged to live in one place.
This has allowed me to be somewhat spontaneous on occasion. On a trip to Australia in 2001 I fell in love with a small coastal town called Noosa. After a few enquiries I found a lovely practice looking for a dentist, cancelled our return flights and started work the following Monday. Our holiday turned into two happy years on a stunning coastline, playing host to an endless stream of intrigued and jealous friends from England.
Australia was fabulous, the work was rewarding and I loved the healthy lifestyle but despite it all I was missing friends and keen to get back.
London was the obvious place for me to move back to. Like many industries, dentistry in the UK is focused around London. Here we have the best facilities, we are visited by all the heavy weights in dentistry, we have access to the top specialists and the most talented lab technicians. In short, it is the best place to have an active progressive career. My next decision was to choose a practice. I looked at lots of practices but only applied to one: the dental surgery at the corn exchange. I think that the practice philosophy is the single most important aspect to a dental team. To work with a genuine feeling of doing everything possible in the best interests of the patient is the only way to work. A happy team, thriving patient list and high quality treatment are all consequences of that philosophy. This means thorough screening to implement preventative treatment, effective hygiene treatment and ethical dentistry with the very best equipment and materials. I was very pleased when I was offered the position at the practice and have never looked back (except on very cold winter days when Noosa beach does seem rather appealing!).
Dentistry is always moving on as materials and treatment methods are constantly being updated. To keep up you need to spend lots of time on courses and at lectures. Last year I was lucky enough to be accepted onto the implant diploma course at the royal college of surgeons, which is recognized as the gold standard for implant dentistry. In the last two years I have also attended courses in occlusion, endodontics, laminate veneers, and my pet favourite, aesthetics . You see there is more to it than just drilling and filling!!
