HELPING WITH ORAL HEALTH

CHARLOTTE LEABOURN is part of a new wave of dentists bringing a more positive image to the profession.

“I think, unfortunately, for a lot of the older generation they don’t have a positive view of it but as the younger ones are coming through there has been a lot of changes there. I think it has been getting better and thankfully lots less people are scared of the dentist,” says Charlotte.

“The attitude is definitely shifting a bit, which is good. It is nicer to go to the dentist now than it used to be.”

Charlotte has been working for Fraser Dental in Hobsonville, Auckland for nine months. The 26-year-old dentist was working in Rotorua for two-and-a-half years prior to that.

Helping people is the basis of what Charlotte loves most about being a dentist.

It is what got her into the health profession in the first place.

“It is also a practical job. It is really hands-on and quite challenging as every day there are new people that come in. There is always lots to learn and so it is quite good for my brain as well, which is important to me.”

Charlotte does dental check-ups plus restorative work, which includes fillings, caps and crowns on teeth and removal of teeth, plus root canal procedures to remove the nerves of a tooth to fix infections.

“What I do is bread-and-butter dentistry. I am a general dentist, but I also do a bit of Invisalign. Instead of braces, you use clear aligners to straighten the teeth.” Building good rapport with her patients and listening is a big part of her role as a dentist.

“You need to understand that lots of people are not happy to be there so you have got to be really understanding and patient with them while they kind of work through things.

“It is about being a nice person they can chat away with, especially as I am a young female and people are used to going to see men to have their dental treatment done.

“I think people find that quite refreshing at times, which is nice.”

Charlotte says getting the message across to young people about oral hygiene and looking after your teeth still needs work.

“There are always going to be people who are more aware of it and more educated but there definitely needs to be a lot more education about oral health in general.”

The only place to study for a Bachelor of Dental Surgery in New Zealand is at the University of Otago. Charlotte was there from 2015 until 2019, first doing a year of health science before moving into the dentistry course.

She attended Glendowie College in Auckland where she took English, Economics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics in Year 13.

Charlotte says dentistry is a great industry to consider for a career. To learn more about being a dentist, she recommends asking your dentist to shadow them for a day and watch what they do or talking to current dentistry students.

Key Facts

■ CHARLOTTE LEABOURN HAS A BACHELOR OF DENTAL SURGERY FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

■ SHE WORKS AT FRASER DENTAL IN HOBSONVILLE, WHERE SHE MAINLY PERFORMS GENERAL DENTISTRY BUT ALSO DOES INVISALIGN

■ CHARLOTTE STUDIED ENGLISH, ECONOMICS, CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY AND PHYSICS IN YEAR 13

For more information on studying dentistry at the University of Otago, visit www.otago.ac.nz/dentistry