Heidi Wyatt

Practice Manager for Harleigh Road Dental Centre, Bodmin

My role involves supporting my practice team on a daily basis, continually problem-solving together, keeping our business operations efficient, productive and profitable, and colleagues happy and motivated. I am responsible for overseeing the clinical and commercial aspects of our Bodmin practice, ensuring that we operate effectively, are compliant, adhere to governing bodies’ rules and regulations, and deliver excellent patient care. I also currently provide remote Practice Manager support to our Newquay team.

The most fun aspect of my role is being part of a great team, both in practice and throughout Smile Together as a whole. I love that we’re employee-owned, where everyone can contribute ideas and suggestions, and a B Corp certified social enterprise reinvesting profits back into the community whilst being as sustainable as possible. All this means there is never a dull day!

It is such an inspiring place to work although this is a challenging role as, being a practice manager in an organisation like ours, you frequently find yourself wearing many hats in one day.

I love to be around people and, when I read about dental nursing as a potential career whilst studying Psychology at College, it really appealed to me. I entered the profession as a 17-year-old YTS dental nurse in Cornwall with a big desire to help people and have worked in dentistry now for over 30 years! 8 of those years were here at Smile Together, dental nursing both in the surgery environment and out in the community, including the delivery of our Brighter Smiles oral health programme in primary schools and nurseries (now Smarter Smiles). The only reason I left was to pursue a management career path as I felt the time was right to hang up my scrubs, but I did not want to leave the dentistry family. Having successfully worked in dental management for the last 4 years in a more corporate dental environment, it was a perfect time to return to Smile Together and apply my experience to an even more varied Practice Manager role here.

I still retain the same level of desire and enthusiasm today for dentistry and get such a buzz seeing our team helping patients overcome their fears and improve their oral health. I love our vision and mission, it’s genuinely meaningful, and I aspire to follow our company values and ethics on a daily basis and be the best role model I can each day. So important when you’re in an influential leadership role.

To someone considering working for Smile Together, I would say do it, you will never regret being part of an amazing organisation which in turn becomes your work family. I am proud to have made life-long friendships with colleagues here.

Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my family and gardening – I do not have a large garden, but I love being outside in the fresh air.