'Dentistry ticks all my boxes'

Dentistry ticks all my boxes. I was always fascinated by my trips to the dentist and loved anything connected to biology and the sciences at school – but I also really wanted to find a career that involved practical, hands-on skills.

My principal dentist and I had one patient on our first day of opening and this has now grown to a team of 42. I began my career as an apprentice dental nurse in an orthodontic practice at North Staffordshire Hospital. Once I qualified, I was keen to take on more responsibility. I had an opportunity to work at a GP practice and wanted to explore practice management, so I was privileged to work alongside both a practice manager and the business development manager and gain a huge amount of experience. The GP practice then moved to bigger premises and was looking to rent out the old premises to a dentist who wished to open a squat practice. My manager recommended I have a chat and, at the age of 20, I became the practice manager at The Old Surgery Dental Practice in Crewe. We bought the building we are now in and, in 2018, opened a second. We are a busy and successful referral practice and hold some NHS contracts for specialist oral surgery and children’s RA.