Dental Surgeon

I always enjoyed science in school, particularly physics and maths. I thought about a career in medicine, but was inspired by a family member in the dental profession.

I completed a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (B.D.S.) degree at the University of Edinburgh. A fortnight after graduating I started work, and didn’t stop for the next 36 years!

It looks pretty good now that I’ve retired! When I was working, I would see between 20 and 30 patients a day, doing a variety of tasks from checkups and radiography, to fillings, extractions, endodontics, dentures, and crown and bridgework. At my last practice, I spent a couple of days a week doing domiciliary (home) visits for the elderly or housebound, mainly making dentures. The advent of coronavirus and the associated PPE required to work has really changed the job.

My B.D.S. was useful in that it enabled me to begin practising immediately as a dentist and gave me an in depth knowledge of the mouth and its related anatomy, physiology, biochemistry etc. There’s a difference between learning about the materials and techniques available, and actually mastering the skills necessary to do the job to a high standard. This takes years of practise!

It’s quite satisfying working with your hands and seeing the beneficial results of procedures you performed sometimes many years earlier! Feeling part of a practice team is also rewarding. It was interesting chatting with patients and getting to know them over a long period of time. Quite a few of my patients followed me from practice to practice, so I looked after them for over thirty years! I particularly enjoyed the home visits in the latter part of my career, travelling to different places and working with older, very appreciative patients! Through dentistry, I also became a member of my local dental golf society, which I have really enjoyed.

Dealing with difficult, demanding or nervous patients is often challenging and quite stressful, although this gets easier with more experience.

My advice is to keep studying hard as it will all be worth it in the end! It’s a challenging but very fulfilling career. And remember to always be nice to your dental nurses!