0:06

Hello and welcome to Behind a Smile

0:08

. I am Dr Shauntel

0:11

Ambrose and I am a dentist

0:13

. I host a healthcare business

0:15

podcast where I interview healthcare

0:17

practitioners around the world , sharing

0:20

tips on how to improve your healthcare

0:22

practice , innovate and

0:25

grow , while living your best

0:27

life . We share products

0:29

and information from healthcare partners that

0:31

can help you in your practice journey

0:33

, be it a startup , a family-based

0:36

business or a multidisciplinary healthcare

0:38

team . Most of the information

0:40

provided here is based on personal

0:43

experience and opinions . Of

0:45

the information provided here is based on personal experience and opinions , so please

0:47

supplement what you learn here with approved research , studies and professional

0:50

advice . Thank you to everyone

0:52

who has subscribed and I invite

0:54

you to join our community

0:57

. If you haven't , we would love

0:59

to hear from you . If you would like

1:01

to be on the show , drop me a mail

1:03

at behindasmile2@ gmailcom

1:06

. Let's make it happen together

1:09

. So hello everyone . It's Shauntel once

1:11

again and I am very excited

1:13

to present to you Dr

1:16

Chelsea Cahi . So we're

1:18

excited to have her in the studio today

1:20

. She's been absolutely

1:22

gracious to give us a little bit of her time

1:24

and she's a busy lady , so I

1:26

just want to introduce her before we get

1:28

into the nitty-gritty for today . So

1:31

she is a graduate from the University

1:33

of Witwatersrand and she

1:36

managed to get the

1:38

Dean's Golden Key Award

1:40

for Academic Excellence . She's

1:43

completed her year of community service

1:45

. And then Chelsea joined her

1:48

dad and her uncle in Cahi

1:50

Dental and Prosthetic Practice in

1:52

Parktown North . So I'm really excited

1:55

to have somebody talk about oral facial

1:57

pain , tmj management

1:59

, what we're able to do with that

2:01

and a little bit about her other

2:03

love , which is Peds . So

2:05

we welcome you , Chelsea . Thank

2:08

you for being here today .

2:09

Thank you so much . I'm so excited to be

2:11

on this podcast , so thank

2:14

you for having me .

2:15

I want to know what is it like growing

2:17

up in that atmosphere you

2:19

not only had dad as a dentist

2:22

, but you also had your uncle as a dentist and can

2:25

you just share with us what is that like growing

2:27

up in this dental business

2:29

that's a family business and how did that

2:31

influence you and your

2:33

career path ?

2:35

So growing up in a dental world you could

2:37

almost call it it didn't really have much

2:39

influence on me until

2:41

I was around 16 . When I

2:43

was thinking , what am I going to do with my future

2:46

, I always wanted to do something medical

2:48

. It was a non-negotiable . I

2:50

just wanted to do something like that . And

2:53

when I was about 16 , my mom

2:55

actually said to me you know , charles

2:57

, maybe you should consider dentistry

3:00

. You should go and shadow dad and uncle

3:02

Neil and have a look at it . It's a wonderful

3:05

profession , especially for a woman

3:07

. Your hours are flexible and I hadn't

3:09

really thought about it up until then . And

3:11

then I started shadowing them and

3:14

, to everybody's surprise , I actually

3:16

enjoyed it and found it quite

3:18

rewarding . And that's when the

3:20

whole journey began and

3:22

it's been absolutely wonderful . I couldn't

3:25

have asked for a better support than

3:27

my dad and my uncle during my studies

3:29

. Really , they helped me tremendously

3:31

and I actually felt only when

3:33

I really joined the practice after

3:36

my degree is when the true

3:38

learning actually began , because I

3:40

have learned so much from them post-graduating

3:43

that it's actually priceless

3:45

and to be together

3:48

is wonderful . I mean , people ask me every

3:50

day how do you work with your father

3:53

? Family business can be

3:55

tricky , don't ? You ? Guys clash

3:57

and I always joke around

3:59

and say you know he drives

4:01

me mad , that's just because he's my dad

4:04

, not because he's my

4:06

boss . I mean , you couldn't wish or ask

4:08

for a better boss or an employer than my father

4:10

. But you know he drives me mad because he's

4:12

my father , you know , and he's on my case

4:14

all the time Also

4:16

. Luckily , we've all got different interests in different

4:18

fields , so our work doesn't really

4:21

clash . But it's a great environment

4:23

. I love it . I couldn't ask to be part

4:25

of a better practice and I'm

4:27

just very lucky and fortunate .

4:30

You know , listen , I think that we've spoken on

4:32

the show . I put a lot of emphasis on mentorship

4:34

and I

4:37

find that it really is something

4:39

that in your undergraduate year , you'll

4:41

find that there are a few individuals that have almost a background

4:43

with their mentorship . Find that there are a few individuals that have almost a background

4:45

with their mentorship , and

4:48

then there are a few individuals that are seeking

4:50

the mentorship and then there are a few individuals that are just

4:52

really just finding their feet . And

4:55

I've been encouraging since

4:57

having the podcast . I've been encouraging

4:59

us as professionals , as healthcare

5:02

professionals , to start looking

5:04

at mentorship as not something

5:06

that is competitive , but

5:08

it is something that can really grow individuals

5:11

and practices and people at large

5:13

. So it's exactly

5:15

what you've said earlier . You know

5:17

you could not have somebody better

5:20

than your own dad because your mentorship

5:22

starts so young . You have

5:24

an expert in almost every

5:26

field in dentistry and

5:29

you do a significant amount

5:31

of aesthetics as well

5:33

. So what is your focus

5:35

in the practice ?

5:37

So I practice general dentistry , and

5:39

so there isn't one aspect that I don't

5:41

do . I mean , I see all my general dental

5:43

patients , but I think you could

5:45

call my niche is maybe two aspects

5:48

. Peds , definitely

5:50

, I've managed to build up quite a

5:52

solid foundation of pediatric

5:55

patients and I also

5:57

do quite a lot of TMJ

5:59

management . A few years

6:01

ago I actually did a fellowship

6:03

with a maxillofacial surgeon in Rosebank

6:06

. He subsequently immigrated

6:08

to America and he

6:10

specialized in TMJ and oral

6:12

facial pain and I learned really

6:14

a hell of a lot from him , and so I've almost

6:16

implemented that now into my practice . So

6:19

I do that . I

6:21

also do a little bit of non-surgical facial aesthetics

6:24

nothing major , I'm very

6:26

conservative , but I do do it as

6:29

well as just the general implants

6:31

, things like that .

6:33

You know , there are a few aspects that I'd love to touch

6:36

on . So I'm excited about

6:38

TMJ and what

6:40

people are doing in terms of management

6:42

. So can you give us a little bit of a background

6:44

with what you're doing with TMJ

6:47

?

6:48

So usually I mean South

6:50

Africa , or just every day . I mean we live

6:52

in a very stressful environment and

6:55

I mean it must be every

6:57

day , or every second day we're seeing somebody

6:59

in the practice that's coming in and presenting

7:02

with pain or tenderness in

7:04

either their jaw joint itself or the

7:06

muscles around the jaw . People

7:08

are waking up with headaches , they're struggling

7:10

to fall asleep , struggling to stay asleep

7:13

, have tightness in the jaw

7:15

, just that general sense of

7:17

feeling unwell and fatigued . And

7:19

a lot of the time a

7:21

TMJ problem is misdiagnosed

7:24

and people think it's just head and neck

7:26

tension , or it's earache or

7:28

it's sinus pain or it's a nerve

7:31

problem . So you really

7:33

have to be quite on the

7:35

ball to get it right . And when we

7:37

do get it right , it is rewarding

7:39

. It's a difficult thing to manage

7:41

because we try

7:43

to keep our management conservative , depending

7:47

obviously on how severe it is . Yeah

7:50

, we try really hard just to get these patients

7:52

out of pain . A lot of the time with TMJ

7:55

it's irreversible . So once it's already

7:57

in the jaw joint and people are hearing

7:59

like a clicking or there's a slide or

8:01

something along those lines

8:03

, it's almost irreversible unless

8:06

you want to go and have surgery , which a lot of

8:08

people don't , and then we just

8:10

try and manage the symptoms and manage your pain

8:12

and just try and improve your day-to-day

8:14

life .

8:15

So are you giving any bite plates , and

8:18

do you do this over a number of

8:20

different sessions , or

8:22

how do you structure that program ?

8:25

So usually it's . I mean , if I see

8:27

somebody and they're suffering , obviously after we

8:29

do an examination or consultation , depending

8:31

on how bad it is , I often will . It

8:33

is a process . I don't like

8:35

to just throw everything at once , because different

8:38

things work for different people and I like to

8:40

see what's going to work and what's

8:42

not going to work . For example

8:45

, some patients actually require Botox

8:47

or trigger point injections into those

8:49

muscles to relieve that tension

8:52

. But it's not my first line of treatment

8:54

because you know , then

8:56

if I do that and I give a bioplate

8:58

and I recommend physio , then we don't really

9:00

know what's working and what's not . So

9:03

I usually start , usually with a course of medication

9:05

just to try and break that spasm for about

9:07

10 days . Most

9:10

, 99% of the time I always

9:12

encourage my patients to get a bite

9:14

plate purely just to protect

9:17

their teeth number one and also

9:19

just to try and break the habit of that constant

9:21

clenching that they're doing on a daily

9:23

basis , because a lot of people think , oh , we

9:25

only clench at night . But

9:28

if you're clenching at night , you're clenching in the day

9:30

and people just don't

9:32

realize that . So just to try and break the habit

9:34

and I've got a great

9:36

team of physios that are often refer patients

9:38

to try and relieve that tension

9:40

and then , if

9:43

that's still not relieving their symptoms enough

9:45

, that's when I start suggesting trigger point

9:47

injections into the muscles to try

9:49

and break that spasm .

9:52

You know , patients don't know enough

9:54

about how these

9:56

spasms can actually interrupt

9:59

the quality of life . Yeah , absolutely

10:02

. It's almost as though we don't have enough

10:04

education out there . We just don't have enough

10:06

information out there and

10:08

in terms of us being practitioners

10:10

we haven't really participated

10:13

at that purposeful treatment

10:16

level for the patients

10:18

. When we do find them , when I speak

10:20

to some of our colleagues

10:22

, they often say it's quite a difficult patient

10:25

because they often don't believe

10:27

that a spasm

10:29

from your jaw can result

10:31

in a headache , in neck

10:34

strain , in a backache , in shoulders

10:36

paining . You know they just think that it's a medically

10:39

related condition , it

10:41

has very little to do with their teeth

10:43

and it's almost like you have to go

10:46

to this idea of

10:48

convincing them that

10:50

it actually is the

10:52

stress coming from a jaw and

10:55

from a joint , and for a long

10:57

period of time , because by the

10:59

time they really present with that

11:01

amount of pain they've

11:03

tried a lot but they haven't

11:05

tried what works because

11:07

they just have been lost in the system

11:10

of pain . They'll go to the physio

11:12

or they'll go to their medical practitioner

11:14

and they'll get some sort

11:16

of advice . I know a lot of patients that start

11:19

at the chiropractor and

11:21

never are advised to go

11:24

and see the dentist . A

11:26

really great thing to do is

11:28

ask the patient to go and

11:30

maybe consult with

11:33

a dentist that is looking at

11:35

TMJ , where they

11:37

may be able to assist with that pain and

11:39

may be able to find those trigger points and really

11:41

we could work together in collaboration

11:43

for something that could really help

11:46

patients . So congratulations

11:48

on that .

11:48

Thank you .

11:49

Now listen , I've been involved in PEDS

11:51

for a long time . I have post-grad in pediatrics

11:55

and it's

11:57

one of my special love jobs . I think you

11:59

either love it or you don't . I

12:03

work with my husband and he's

12:05

a guy that I think that he's just

12:07

been blessed in that he can do great surgery

12:10

and he's one of the few men that I know

12:12

that can actually work on children with

12:15

patients . So I

12:17

don't know how you get everything in life . You

12:19

know I want to know . Now , how

12:21

did you get into that

12:23

? I call it a little micro speciality

12:26

and those of us that are

12:28

highly pedantic in the field and that listen

12:30

to me , you have to forgive me but I feel like

12:33

it does . Even though we don't

12:35

get regarded as specialists

12:37

, what we do is

12:39

very specialized and

12:42

I'd love to hear how you got onto that

12:44

journey and what led you there and

12:46

how's it all going .

12:49

So I've always loved children . I have a huge

12:51

love for children . I come from a very

12:53

big family , always been lots

12:56

of little kids around me , so I think it's almost

12:58

come naturally to me to deal with children

13:01

. When I was studying

13:03

our pediatric course , I

13:05

mean we weren't overly exposed

13:07

to too much clinical work , but

13:10

I did used to enjoy it a lot . And when I

13:12

qualified I actually joined

13:14

the Pedodontics Society of South Africa

13:17

where I headed up the

13:19

outreach component

13:21

of the society for a few years . And

13:23

that's when my love for pediatrics

13:26

really started . Because we used to

13:28

I used to set up clinics and we used to

13:30

do free dental care to a lot

13:32

of underprivileged children all

13:34

around Kauteng . And then we've always had

13:36

a lot of underprivileged children all around Kauteng and then we've always had a lot of children

13:38

coming to the practice . I mean my dad's

13:41

very good with them and they love him . And

13:43

then when I started , I think my dad almost

13:45

not lost his patience , but I think he saw

13:47

that the kids maybe preferred me , I

13:49

think , because when they see a young female

13:52

it's less daunting to them than

13:54

seeing this big man in

13:56

a white coat . And that's

13:58

sort of just how I got into it and

14:01

obviously I'm in the space . Now . A

14:03

lot of my friends and colleagues have children

14:05

and they start bringing them to you or it's

14:07

. I often go to schools and give

14:09

talks to the kids and I

14:12

just always try and relate to them and I think

14:14

that's a huge thing , just to try

14:16

and relate to the kids , and now it's almost

14:18

like I've got all these little

14:20

friends . You know that I wouldn't

14:22

really say they're my patients , they're just my little

14:24

companions that I see every

14:26

six months and I love it . I

14:29

mean , it's stressful , don't get me wrong and

14:37

it can be incredibly frustrating , because what will take you 15

14:40

minutes to do on an adult can take you 45 minutes

14:42

to do on a child , and if the parent is neurotic and anxious

14:44

, then that's a whole other ball

14:46

game in itself . But

14:48

when you get it right it's great and it's

14:50

very rewarding and it's

14:52

definitely adds sunshine to the to

14:55

my practice , I think .

14:56

Yeah , well , it's very special to to my practice , I think

14:58

, well , it's very special to do , like

15:02

I said , well , I'm slightly biased because I've had a special interest in it for a really

15:04

long time . Nobody wanted to see children as a special

15:06

interest because it took

15:09

so long to do to

15:11

a little person what you could do

15:13

in a really short time to an adult

15:15

, absolutely person

15:19

, what you could do in a really short time to an adult , absolutely . And did take growing

15:21

the fraternity , getting more information out there . The Peter Dantic Society

15:24

has been absolutely instrumental

15:26

in South Africa to be able to give us a little

15:28

bit more assistance with

15:30

knowing how to treat children better

15:32

from a worldwide perspective , because

15:35

we're going to be having IAPD here

15:37

in Cape Town soon

15:40

. So I really really think

15:42

that the more kids that

15:44

we are able to help , the

15:47

better we can control disease

15:49

. So when you go

15:51

out to schools I'm sure you're

15:54

giving a lot of information out . But

15:56

I also know that as

15:58

a practice that you guys

16:00

offer a lot of philanthropy and

16:04

I want to hear a little bit about that because

16:06

it's very special .

16:09

So we've always been a practice

16:11

that firmly believes in giving back

16:13

and it's not

16:15

really something that we like to advertise

16:18

too much because we feel that

16:20

it's not necessary . We like

16:23

to keep it close to home . But

16:25

about once a year or every year

16:27

we do adopt some kind

16:29

of children's organization where

16:32

we offer the children free dental

16:34

care and treatment , obviously

16:37

not all the work but the emergency

16:39

work that needs to be done . So all the children

16:41

will have consultations

16:43

and cleanings . We do fissure sealants

16:45

and then if any of the kids need extractions

16:47

or fillings or hypotenuse

16:50

things like that , we do do and we just try

16:52

and educate them and promote dental

16:54

awareness , promote oral education

16:57

. And a big part in it is actually

16:59

educating their caregivers

17:01

. Because these kids that we see are

17:03

young , they're little , some of them

17:05

are as small as two years old , so

17:08

we can't educate them and expect them to

17:10

know everything . So it's always

17:13

about that point of educating the

17:15

caregivers things

17:17

. So it's always about that point of educating

17:19

the caregivers . And we also I mean we

17:24

must see maybe three or four patients a week where my dad

17:26

does a pro bono . He doesn't charge patients , he will never turn anybody away . He's

17:28

definitely instilled that in all of us . It's part of

17:30

our mission statement . If somebody's

17:32

in pain or they're suffering , under

17:35

no condition do we turn them away and we try and help people as much . No condition

17:37

do we turn them away and we try and help people as much as we can . Um , we

17:39

we lucky and we bless that we do have such

17:41

a wonderful and thriving business

17:44

, but we don't turn anyone

17:46

away . Even if patients can't afford a

17:48

full private rate , we do always

17:50

try and compromise

17:52

in some way . So it is something

17:55

, something that we love and it's close

17:57

to our hearts and , please God , we can continue

18:00

to do this .

18:02

And so I really applaud

18:04

you and I applaud the business at large

18:06

for being able to really commit

18:09

to it . It's a real commitment

18:11

when you have to see children

18:13

and there's quite a few

18:16

of them Plus , you know what

18:18

you say is . It really shows

18:20

how much of pediatrics you

18:22

do , because the caregivers

18:25

are really . They are the guardians

18:27

for those children and they

18:30

make the decisions for them . Often

18:32

the children are not in a position , even as

18:34

they grow older , to make their own decisions

18:37

Absolutely , and to educate

18:39

them really does get you to that point

18:41

of being able to change lives . So

18:44

very well done for your

18:46

commitment , your annual commitment

18:49

, and I love the idea

18:51

that it's done with such

18:53

a lot of grace . I know that it's

18:56

not something that's publicized too much . You keep

18:58

it to yourselves . It's something that's

19:00

in keeping with , I think , the

19:02

grace and the incredible

19:04

integrity with which you are presenting

19:07

the philosophy of

19:09

health . You know so it's

19:11

an old school idea

19:13

, and I think that it's

19:16

part and parcel of what I see

19:18

as your mission statement , as

19:21

your business offering and as your

19:23

family profile as a business . Now

19:26

I know that your uncle , emil

19:28

, does a lot of prosthodontic work

19:30

. I always like

19:32

touching bases on the family

19:34

at large , always

19:38

like touching bases on the family at large , as well as your mom . I know your

19:40

mom plays an important role in just keeping everyone together

19:42

and just , I think , sewing the seams

19:44

of the Kahi fabric , and

19:46

she does that really very well , even though she

19:49

doesn't often need to be in the spotlight

19:51

about it . I touch base on that , but

19:54

I think that it's really something

19:57

that all of us that want to move

19:59

towards growing our practices . You

20:02

put out there a lot of really

20:04

great information . You

20:06

stand by what you do . When things

20:08

go wrong , you also talk about

20:10

it .

20:11

You know and .

20:12

I really respect that . I really respect

20:15

that . I revere that , because we

20:17

don't often talk about the things that

20:19

go wrong , but they go wrong

20:21

and you

20:23

know , as dental professionals , as

20:25

healthcare practitioners , we often

20:28

have our backs up . That you

20:30

know . Listen , this didn't go ideally

20:32

, it didn't go according to plan , but

20:34

I can tell you in my 20 years

20:36

and I've , I mean , I'm a speaker for

20:38

dental protection Not

20:40

everything has gone right . We

20:43

, just by being able to speak

20:46

to each other as a fraternity

20:48

rather than as just being able to

20:50

see each other as competitors , I

20:53

really enjoy that level of integrity

20:55

. It's something I applaud . Every Now

21:01

we're going to talk about the hard stuff , because

21:04

on the podcast , I talk about hard stuff and

21:06

as we go on , we , as you know

21:08

, our podcast was born from the

21:10

fact that , post-covid , many practices

21:13

actually went bankrupt . You know , to get back

21:15

on that , on being able to be busy

21:17

and to be able

21:19

to afford the busyness that years

21:22

and years has given you reference

21:25

to , we've had to start . Many

21:27

people started from scratch all over again

21:29

and I find that people are

21:31

finally finding their feet . Despite

21:34

the way the economy is

21:36

looking , they're finally finding their feet

21:38

in South Africa in healthcare

21:40

. What I do want to talk about

21:43

is , as we're growing and as

21:45

we're diversifying , there

21:47

is this competition

21:49

that we're finding amongst

21:52

our healthcare and

21:55

I want to ask you you're such a well-positioned

21:58

practice . You must

22:00

be seen by other dental

22:02

practitioners , other healthcare

22:04

businesses , as being one

22:07

of those people that are taking market share

22:09

. How do you

22:11

respond to these

22:13

competitive behaviors now from

22:16

colleagues ? Some of them are advising

22:18

our patients . You know to

22:20

go and seek sort of litigation

22:22

and inadvertently they

22:25

try to gain those patients and you

22:27

know this does happen in every industry . I'm

22:29

not only talking about healthcare . So

22:32

how do you respond to these competitive

22:34

behaviors ? Because you , for

22:36

a really long time , are part of a business

22:39

that has withstood the test of time

22:41

. You know you would have gone

22:43

through the waves and this would not be the first and it certainly

22:45

won't be the last , but know you would have gone through the waves and this would not be the first and it certainly won't be

22:47

the last . But how do you respond to this ? What

22:50

advice do you have to us as practitioners

22:52

who are still early in the game ?

22:54

Yeah , sure that's a question

22:57

and it's a hard question

23:00

, but it is something that we all

23:02

go through . I mean , I don't think there's one

23:04

healthcare professional that can

23:07

say they haven't experienced some

23:09

sort of professional jealousy

23:11

, if you may call it , and also I don't

23:13

think that there's one healthcare professional

23:16

that can say that they haven't had a complication

23:18

, because we all experience

23:20

these things . I mean , I'm sure

23:22

everyone in their life that's taken

23:24

out a tooth has experienced a

23:27

dry socket or something along

23:29

those lines . Things happen . But

23:32

in terms of how I deal with these

23:35

sort of , say , professional jealousy

23:37

or colleagues acting the way that they act

23:39

, to be honest , lucky , I

23:41

haven't experienced it myself , but

23:44

I have seen substandard

23:47

work from other colleagues . We

23:50

all have . I don't think anyone has

23:52

seen something from someone else in their career

23:54

and it hasn't been great , but

23:57

I don't know . I think there's

23:59

absolutely no excuse to

24:02

run down a dental

24:04

professional or a fellow colleague of yours

24:06

, and I think people

24:08

need to remember the Hippocratic Oath that

24:10

we all took when we graduated and

24:12

that being ethical and

24:14

having an ethical practice is far

24:17

more important than having a busy practice

24:19

and I'm

24:21

quite big on that and I'm quite solid

24:24

when it comes to that . And even when patients

24:26

request certain things , if I feel that

24:29

it's not ethical and it's not the right thing to

24:31

do , I won't do it . And if they

24:33

want to go elsewhere to practice

24:35

somewhere else that is going to

24:37

do it , then then

24:39

they must . But I like to sleep comfortably

24:41

at night knowing that I'm doing the right

24:43

thing , and I

24:46

mean , if I see something from a colleague of

24:48

mine that is substandard , I'm

24:51

more likely to pick up the phone and phone them

24:53

and discuss it with them , and

24:56

I will never say to the patient oh

24:58

yeah , this person did that . They should never have

25:00

done that . You

25:02

know , lucky , you came to Cardental . I mean

25:04

, I just don't think that it's

25:06

ethically right at

25:09

all . But everyone to each

25:11

to their own , and I just think people

25:13

just need to remember that if you're ethical and

25:15

you practice with dignity and you have integrity

25:18

, the people will come

25:20

, people want to see an ethical practitioner

25:22

and the business will come and money will follow

25:24

. But your reputation is everything and

25:26

that is one thing that I must say . My

25:28

father's instilled in me is that money

25:31

comes and goes , people

25:33

come and go , but your education

25:36

and your reputation is something that

25:38

nobody can ever take away from you

25:40

and it will follow you wherever you go . So

25:42

you need to always

25:44

carry on learning , carry

25:47

on your education , but also make sure you

25:49

keep a good , clean reputation

25:51

, because that's something that , once there's

25:53

a mark on your reputation , can

25:56

stay with you for life .

25:57

I appreciate that , because these hard things

25:59

but those tips are

26:01

really the baseline of integrity

26:03

and I

26:05

think it does see you through in

26:08

terms of a long and

26:10

really a rewarding career , which

26:13

I think all of us signed up for when we first

26:15

started up and we had our dreams initially

26:17

. I'll tell you when I was humbled and when

26:19

I reached a point of

26:21

knowing for sure that you can never judge

26:24

another practitioner is . I

26:26

was quite early on in my in

26:28

my business and I had

26:30

completed my dip in in pediatrics

26:33

and I had been referred

26:35

a patient that was sent

26:38

as uncooperative and

26:41

they had fillings in their mouths and all

26:43

of the fillings were not great sort

26:45

of falling to pieces and

26:48

they were charged for it and whatever

26:50

. And so you know you hear these two perspectives

26:52

, you hear the patient's perspective , you hear

26:55

the doctor's perspective and you're just there

26:57

to somehow mediate that

26:59

and try to move them in the right direction . And

27:02

it was the most humbling experience

27:04

when they sat in that chair

27:06

and I promise you it

27:08

took me a close on to

27:11

an hour and 45

27:13

minutes to do three fillings

27:15

and I

27:18

thought to myself you know I don't consider

27:20

myself a particularly bad clinician

27:22

, but on a scale

27:24

of one to 10 , those were the hardest feelings

27:26

I've ever done . It

27:30

was , you know , uncooperative was

27:33

, I think , a really lovely way of putting

27:35

it . It was just so much more

27:38

the child gagged . There

27:40

was such a lot of saliva . If we were

27:42

trying to suction they got scared of the suction

27:44

. The mom is sitting with the child

27:47

in the chair , so there wasn't enough space for

27:49

you to work in . And it humbled

27:51

me because when you get and

27:54

when you look in someone's mouth and you're thinking

27:56

that that just happened because you

27:58

had a lovely rubber dam that somebody tolerated

28:01

and they tolerated everything else

28:03

that needed to go , with a beautiful , perfect

28:05

filling , without any complexity

28:07

, those are the best days that

28:09

you can get and they , for me

28:11

, remain my luckiest days .

28:14

Absolutely .

28:14

And so what you're saying is really

28:17

so significant . But for us just

28:19

to be able to practice with a level of integrity

28:21

is a tremendous thing , and I think it

28:24

still keeps me happy in what I do

28:26

, no matter how hard the days get , and I will

28:28

say that dentistry is one of those

28:30

hardest careers that anyone could choose

28:32

Absolutely .

28:33

And it's so much more than just the

28:35

mouth . I see

28:37

patients , I look on the day sheet and

28:39

I see this and I start getting anxiety

28:42

because I'm anticipating that it's going to be so difficult

28:44

. It's a bit of a difficult patient

28:46

and they're very anxious and I've got to do this

28:49

filling right at the back of the mouth and I don't

28:51

know how I'm going to manage in this . And then

28:53

it's actually my uncle , neil . He's a prosthodontist

28:56

. He actually said to me you know what

28:58

, you just got to do it . Don't think

29:00

, just go , you

29:07

know , and the patient sits down , just do it , block everything out and don't worry about anything

29:09

else . That probably was one of the best advice he's ever given me . And now I

29:11

try to just say , well , I've got no other option , no

29:13

one else is going to do it , I've got to do

29:15

it .

29:15

You just do it you know , listen , we have our

29:17

daily stresses and I want to know

29:20

what keeps you looking so beautiful

29:22

, so ready to go with

29:24

this beautiful attitude , that it's

29:27

a can-do attitude . You have a positivity

29:29

about you . What are your daily stress

29:31

reducers ?

29:32

Probably definitely . Exercise

29:34

is my biggest thing . I try and exercise every

29:36

single day . If it's not a

29:39

HIIT class , I try and do a Pilates

29:41

or a barre class . I play tennis

29:43

at least once a week and I love

29:45

paddle . That's a huge thing . And

29:48

then I just try , and

29:50

when I leave work

29:53

, I leave work . I try

29:55

not to bring that stress home

29:57

with me and it has been a problem

29:59

in the past because I do . I am that kind

30:01

of person that absorbs everybody

30:03

else's stress and then it feeds into

30:05

me and I've really had to work on that . But

30:08

yeah , I've learned to just leave it all behind

30:10

and say I'll have to deal with it tomorrow

30:12

or the next day and then just

30:14

spending my free time with

30:16

people that I love the most in my

30:18

life , you know , and my

30:21

godchildren , who are just everything

30:23

to me , and my family and my friends

30:26

, and and also just being

30:28

outside is a huge thing , I know , maybe

30:30

just going for a small walk and

30:32

things like that . And I mean , when worse comes

30:35

to worse , then I just tell my father you must see the

30:37

patients and leave me alone , that's

30:39

what it means really is

30:41

having him there we must say

30:43

that if you have that , that backup person

30:45

, it really does help .

30:47

You know , there are days where even you yourself you

30:49

just need a little bit of a breakaway . Where

30:51

do you see dentistry in SA

30:54

?

30:55

Sure , that's a very loaded question

30:57

because I mean I suppose

30:59

it goes hand in hand with where we see SA

31:02

in the future . But I

31:04

still believe that some of the best

31:06

medical and dental professionals in the world

31:09

have qualified from South Africa

31:11

and I think

31:13

that dentistry

31:15

in South Africa has got a long future ahead of it

31:17

. I mean people , everyone

31:20

needs a dentist . I mean , if

31:22

you've got a sore tooth , you can't fix it yourself

31:24

, you have to see . You can't go onto Google

31:27

and find what must you do ? People need

31:29

a dentist . And about two

31:31

weeks ago my dad actually visited

31:34

Wits and he went to see the new

31:36

oral health department and

31:39

he actually was completely blown away . He

31:41

said it's amazing . It seems like there's great

31:43

technology , a great space for learning

31:45

, and so I think that

31:48

dentistry in South Africa has got

31:50

a long way . I

31:54

think we're very much up there with the trends and technology and new things that are up and coming

31:56

. But I just hope that we can just

31:59

get this country under control so we can regain

32:01

that worldwide respect that we've

32:03

always been known for .

32:05

But please , God , I'm

32:07

so grateful for your time . Thank

32:09

you .

32:10

Thank you .

32:11

Congratulations and keep on

32:13

doing what you're doing . It's

32:15

fantastic , thank you so much for having

32:17

me .

32:17

It was great . I was very excited

32:20

to be part of the show .

32:22

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