Personal Statement: A Career As A Dentistry

Since a young age I have always been fascinated by riding horses. When I ride horses the key skill that I must demonstrate is hand eye co-ordination and having a gentle touch. As a dentist I believe that these are some of the main skills I will need as I perform my duties within the smallest of places with tiny equipment on delicate surfaces.

Obviously there is a huge distinction between riding a horse and providing dental care, they both allow me to demonstrate my manual skills, however only one has the significant interpersonal component that I seek in a career. As much as I am thankful to the lady who taught me to ride horses, I am far more thankful to the orthodontist who renewed my confidence whilst straightening my teeth as a teenager;

(To have a real insight into the daily duties of a dentist, I set aside a period of time last summer where I could acquire some work experience.) I spent 2 weeks at a local general practice offering both private and NHS treatment. I witnessed the close relationships to which the dentist had created with his patients, personally I find meeting and working with new people on a daily basis provides quite a fun stimulating aspect to this career. Whilst shadowing my dentist I witnessed a number of complex procedures such as a dislodged wisdom tooth extraction and many root canal fillings. My experience at this practice showed me that dentistry is a career that is heavily dependent on dentist-patient interactions, alongside other collaborating staff to ensure the correct treatment is given in an efficient and effective manner. I also spent a week at my orthodontist, it was here that it became apparent to me the real extent to which dentistry

From taking part in a community theatre group since a young age and continuing this passion into my a-level study, I feel that I have gained much confidence as a person as well as developing my teamwork skills as we had to work in small groups to devise our exam pieces, these are very transferable skills into dentistry. Whilst in y12 I was also selected to take on the role of house captain. During this role I had to conduct many fundraising events both for charity and for the school as well as organising the school’s sports day and leading the younger years during this event which has allowed me to work on my leadership skills. On top of this during the summer of Y11 I took part in the 4 week summer phase of NCS. Whilst on this scheme I took part in many teamwork activities such as problem solving and helping people across the high ropes, as well as spending 5 days independently living in university and cooking for ourselves. This gave me a real insight in what it would be like to live away from home for university and the challenges that this may provide, however the independence I will gain from this is a key skill. In the last 2 weeks of this scheme we organised a fundraising event for the charity ‘Forget me Not’ at Rotherham