Paula Souto

Senior Dental Officer and SIB Rep

I work in Community Dentistry treating patients with a range of special conditions – essentially individuals that a General Dental Practitioner is unable to treat in a General Dental Practice environment. Community Dentistry is somewhat more complex – patients have unique needs and a genuine fear of treatment, so it’s important to gain their trust as soon as possible.

My biggest challenge in this role is trying to find new ways to reach out to our patients, respond to their needs and help them through their fear – it’s a challenge that is part of my day-to-day work and is key to managing the patients we see.

Independently of the seriousness of our job roles and the importance of our patient care, we still find a moment to share a laugh or a sing-along which makes the day go faster.

I graduated in dentistry from Lisbon University in 2004 and, on moving to England, worked as a family dentist for a couple of years before moving into access dentistry in 2007, treating patients in pain and who needed urgent assistance. I moved into urgent and emergency care because I recognised that it presented a varied workload and rewarding career which would help me develop my dentistry skills and enable me to develop and achieve my ambition to work in community dentistry which I did in 2014.

Smile Together is an inspirational environment in which to work – it’s an employee-owned company and therefore as shareholders we each have a genuine voice on the direction of the business. As an elected representative on our Shareholder Impact Board I engage with and represent my colleagues at the most senior levels of the business whilst being involved in business strategy and direction.  It’s a fantastic position to hold and I do so with great pride.

To someone considering working for Smile Together I would say join us! I work in a team of lovely people who make the job fun and the days just flow whilst ensuring that the patients get the best possible care we can give them. I also like the fact that with Smile Together the profit we generate is invested into social impact initiatives that are led by all colleagues.

Outside of work I like reading, going for walks and following tennis, rugby and football.