Nicola Wood

The majority of my week is spent practising in clinic where my patients comprise children and young people requiring orthodontic work.

I really enjoy being an ambassador for Smile Together and as such I have recently been re-elected onto the LDC (Local Dental Committee), this time as secretary. I also attend the Orthodontic Managed Clinical Network meetings.

I was the inaugural chair of our elected Staff Council (now our Shareholder Impact Board), with a seat on the Smile Together Board. I have remained a member of SIB and I also attend Quality Committee meetings.

I was Clinical Director for three years with a range of leadership and management responsibilities within our employee-owned social enterprise. This included leading on the clinical planning for our brand new, purpose-designed and accessible dental centre at Harleigh Road in Bodmin. I then relinquished the role and became full-time clinical once more in order to help maximise the number of orthodontic patients we can assess and treat.

So what attracted me to dentistry?

I loved studying sciences at school but knew I didn’t want to be a doctor, so I did my work experience in the local MaxFax department whereby I assisted the orthodontist and hygienist, and spent 2 weeks in the lab waxing up false teeth and other weird and wonderful facial prostheses. My passion for dentistry grew from there and after a taster weekend at Liverpool University in 6th Form entitled ‘So you want to be a dentist?’ where we got to restore plastic teeth and fissure seal them, I applied to Dental School and secured a place at Liverpool University School of Dentistry. I really loved orthodontics at Dental School yet was offered a MaxFax job as a Senior House Officer at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust. It was a fabulous year – on call, surgical extractions, apicectomies, working in theatres – my favourite clinic was the Soft Tissue Clinic where we did all the biopsies. I went on to do my year as a Vocational Trainee in Redruth and ended up staying in practice, then worked as a general NHS dentist for a number of years until at last being offered a hard to come by position at RCH as a Clinical Assistant in Orthodontics. Working in private practice had showed me ‘the other side’ and I will always thank the principal there for showing me how to do a perfect composite restoration.

When I then started in the Community Dental Service as a Dental Officer doing Access, I tried my hand at being a VT trainer and also a mentor to a dental student on placement. My Clinical Director knew I had orthodontic experience so when the Senior Dental Officer in Orthodontics retired, and they struggled to recruit a replacement, I was invited to do a couple of days each week orthodontics. As the need increased, I was able to do more until eventually I stopped doing Access and focused on orthodontics, eventually transitioning into what is now Smile Together.

I like to know what is going on and how I can help shape our company and keep the needs of clinical colleagues at the forefront of any decisions made, so when I was asked to become interim and then Clinical Director it seemed like a natural step – albeit a steep learning curve!

It’s a truly inspiring environment here and I love seeing the excellent work we do for our patients and the positive impact it has on their lives. Having worked in general practice I prefer a salaried position rather than the pressure of being self-employed under the control of a practice owner, and I like to work with like-minded colleagues with a large support network of peers. So to someone considering working for Smile Together I would say ‘go for it’!

Being a Mum takes up most of my time outside of work but I love spending time at the beach and going out for coffee and cake!