How did you get into paediatric dentistry?
As a final year student, there were three things in life I never wanted to do: 1) specialise 2) research and 3) work in rural and remote communities… Now these three things have not only defined my career – but have been the most rewarding and fulfilling aspects of my professional life so far.
Working with the Kimberley Dental Team and serving remote Aboriginal communities for the last decade, I recognised a need to advance my knowledge and skillset to provide optimal care.
As a specialist, you also open up new doors in engaging with stakeholders, including primary and tertiary health services. Paediatric dentistry enabled me to combine by interest in public health while fostering a deeper understanding of best practice care. It opened my eyes to new opportunities and networks that I would never have had working in general practice.
Where do you work now?
I work across both private and public sectors: The University of Western Australia, Perth Children’s Hospital and private practice. All the while I continue to do what got me excited about paediatric dentistry in the first place – providing care to remote and underserved communities.
Being part of the University also provides the opportunity to integrate and engage dental students into various initiatives. Our Clinics to Communities program has now been running for five years and allows dental students to provide oral health promotion to over 20 different community sites ranging from aged care, playgroups, primary schools and resettlement programs.
Where do you see your future in paediatric dentistry?
A blended approach between teaching, academia/research and clinical practice. There has tended to be a disconnect between researchers and clinicians… More recently, there has been a shift towards encouraging clinical academics – it’s more rewarding and stimulating to translate research into clinical care rather than doing what has always been done without questioning why.
What aspects of paediatric dentistry do you prefer?
Building trust and rapport with families and watching children grow into confident young adults – and ideally stopping them from entering the ‘restorative death spiral’. Of course, there is always going to be that oddly satisfying feeling of placing a nicely fitting stainless-steel crown!
I joined the AAPD to/because…
Connect, learn and exchange ideas with other paediatric dentists and be part of an academy that share the same values.
The people I would like to connect with in the AAPD are…
Everyone! We all bring different experiences and strengths. And although I would usually run the other way from most social events, I’ve learnt that you learn something from nearly every conversation at the AAPD.
What is your most memorable or favourite part of practicing Paediatric Dentistry?
Being able to make an impact beyond just the child. Such as through collaborative inter-professional partnerships, which create initiatives that improve the oral health of children in the wider community.
For example, our New Beginnings Healthy Teeth Healthy Lives program is integrated into routine care for newly arriving refugee families.
The program:
- Empowers refugee parents with limited health literacy and social disadvantage
- Promotes oral health literacy
- Incorporates preventive dentistry
- Optimises general health and nutrition
- Ensures equitable holistic care by addressing barriers like literacy, transportation, and trauma.
This is a team approach involving everyone from paediatricians, social workers, child health nurses and not just the dentist.
In the words of Lisa Jamieson, “Oral health offers an exquisite mirror of social injustice… This is because oral health is simultaneously a reflection of unequal material circumstances, unequal access to health services and structural inequities over the life course”.
So, if we are going to really make a difference, it’s by being part of a wider healthcare team – looking beyond the tooth. Pediatric dentistry gives you those opportunities in bucket loads.
What do you like doing outside of Paediatric Dentistry?
Wind-surfing, bird watching and aquascaping!
In an alternate universe, if you were not a dentist what would you have liked to pursue?
A police officer on a motorbike – ride the bike all day & catch the hoons on the freeway… What could go wrong?!
Want to get in touch?
Reach out to Jilen at jilen.patel@uwa.edu.au
