When you find something you love and you have a strong reason for doing it, you find you are filled with energy and vigour that you never knew you had.
Looking after my patients’ oral health gets me out of bed in the morning. More than that, it gets me working in areas such as Bourke, Ballina, Central Coast, Orange, Tasmania and even providing aid in Africa. I love what I do and it shows.
I suffered trauma to my teeth at the age of 7. Other children would point out how different my front teeth looked. As you are aware, it is very hard to hide a dental problem – you cannot talk, laugh or eat properly. After many dental visits, I had my smile restored and it changed my life. It changed my life so dramatically that I knew I wanted to become a dentist. By knowing my story, you can appreciate the deep passion I have to change people’s lives in the same way mine was changed at a young age. This deep passion has allowed me to work very hard during school, university, private practice and in creating my clinic. When you find something you love and you have a strong reason for doing it, you find you are filled with energy and vigour that you never knew you had. I’m sure you can relate to this in different areas of your life. I have created Riverstone Family Dental to cater for the oral health needs of my local community. I feel at home when I am involved in my local community and I am excited at the opportunity to provide innovative dental treatment to families in the area. Family values is something I have been brought up with and I wanted to create a space where people of all ages can feel confident and comfortable visiting the dentist.
My Vision
My vision and purpose in life is to help people improve their oral health and to change the stereotype given to dental professionals. In my experience, these stereotypes include:
- painful delivery of treatment
- expensive fees
- constantly running late
- condescending or difficult to understand
Have you ever had these thoughts about a dentist?
Well, this need not be the case. Many of my patients are surprised when their injection is over, or when the treatment itself has been completed, or when I offer a payment plan rather than abruptly charging them their week’s wage. They are shocked a filling can be completed in a short time, that a pain-free extraction exists, or that their child is looking forward to visiting the dentist again in 6 months. They are grateful that I respect their time by running to schedule and warn them if there is an emergency prior to their appointment. And they feel empowered to make the right decision when I take the time to clearly explain options and costs in a way they can understand. Dentistry is a difficult and physically demanding profession. If not for my passion for this work, it would be hard to justify the long hours and the stressful nature of this job. However, I have been driven from a young age and for me it is a profession which allows me to express my creativity, care for people on a daily basis, quench my constant thirst for knowledge and utilise my leadership skills to manage a team. I find it rewarding when my patients express their gratitude towards me for helping and empowering them to overcome dental phobias. I enjoy giving talks and working in settings outside of my clinic including general anaesthesia theatres. Here, I can accomplish full mouth treatment for patients who would otherwise not be able to have this done in a standard dental chair. This could be because they are too young, have a dental phobia, have special needs or the nature of the dental treatment is quite complex. I hope this has given you a bit of an insight into who I am.
Have you got a similar story? I would love to hear it ~ smile@riverstonefamilydental.com.au
Come and meet me, my family and friends at Riverstone Festival this Saturday, see our event on Facebook.
