My uncle in South Carolina in the US is a dentist, and I used to go to his modern office after school. Back then I did not know much about what dentistry entailed aside from seeing my uncle with his patients, the relationship he had with them, and the chats they had as if they had been friends for years.
I saw how much he cared about his patients and their family on a personal level, I could see how much they admired him, they would even come in just to ask his opinion on things such as politics and personal matters.
I have always loved working with people and being able to help them, so it was seeing the difference my uncle made for his patients that first made me think about becoming a dentist.
When I left school for university, I first chose to study Biology hoping to go to dental school afterwards. However, during the course, I fell in love with conservation biology, and almost decided to go save rainforests and the animals.
Once I got to Australia, I enrolled in dentistry at Griffith University to complete my degree and fulfil my dream. I noticed going to the dentist is not something most people look forward to, almost everyone has had some sort of bad experience, and more than half the population are afraid of the dentist!
I learned that our mouth is one of, if not the most intimate parts of our body, with which we only allow contact with loved ones. So, I learned to not take for granted that people should just be ok to “open wide” and be fine with it. I learned that it is such a great honour to have people trust me with something that is so private to them, so I will always treat all my patients with respect and return the trust they’ve placed in me.
Throughout all the times of practicing, I have also seen the difference high quality materials and good techniques make in the longevity of treatments and work done, in combination with educating my patients on the importance of home oral hygiene.
It is because of all these things, I wanted to create a space that can make a difference for all people from all walks of life. A place where we strive to provide the best customer service possible so the patient can feel comfortable and taken care of. A place that uses advanced digital technologies, and the highest quality materials, with meticulous attention to detail so they can get the best outcome possible which lasts a long time.
And most importantly a place that cares about people as individuals in everything we do so they can feel safe, feel this is a place they can trust, and be happy to call the clinic their dentist. I believe people never forget the dentist who gave them a beautiful smile, but also won’t forget how we make them feel.
That is why the motto of Soul Dental is “the patient is at the centre of everything we do”, so that they can “smile from the soul.”