day in the life of Who were some of your influences that you looked up to during your childhood? I looked up to my parents, who gave me a principled upbringing where professionalism and honesty were paramount. They were both perfectionists in their own way and everything had to be executed to precision! My mother taught me how to do fine needlework and my father instilled in me an obsession of straight lines and parallelism. reconstructive cases (including some cases from the Middle East). This is a fantastic new challenge for me! What appealed to you about a career in dentistry? I have always had an interest in things medical and a love of animals. For a time I considered a career in veterinary surgery and spent many weekends during sixth form assisting a vet from a large animal practice, working on farms. He was very negative about the job and advised against me joining the profession- especially because I was a woman, who might want a family! How times have changed. One of my main hobbies as a young child through to adulthood was needlework, dress designing and creating soft furnishing. It was apparent from a very young age that I had extremely good manual skills, powers of analysis and a perfectionist attitude. 52 APRIL 2018 // dentaltownuk.com Do you express an interest in business? I have absolutely no interest in business. I am fortunate that the business aspects of my entire professional career have always been taken care of by my husband, both when we had our own practice and now that I have my own company restricted to facial aesthetics. I've been told that I am a natural at 'soft selling' because of the passionate way I talk about my subject. I dislike the word 'selling' within the dental profession and find it hard to talk about money and costs of treatments. That does not come naturally to me at all. What advice would you give to dental students starting out in their careers? Work hard, be dedicated and don't rush things. It takes time to hone your techniques. Always be open to suggestions; realise that the more you learn, the more you need to learn. Never think that you know it all; there is always someone else who is preparing to be the best. Never stand still; don't have money as your goal. Aim for good results every time, and contented patients and the rest will follow. Be caring and empathetic. Your career may take many turns along the way and you may end up having several phases during your career in which you are passionate about completely different things. This makes your career interesting and never boring. ■http://www.dentaltownuk.com