Dentistry first: My journey to becoming a Junior Doctor

Over the past year working as a Foundation Doctor, colleagues have often asked me the same questions: 

Firstly - “Can you do Patient X’s bloods/cannula/radiology requests/discharge letter?” 

Secondly - “Have you done something before Medicine?!” 

The short answer: Dentistry. 

The slightly longer answer… 

Undergraduate Journey: Part One – The University of Glasgow (2010-2016) 

I enjoyed my time at Dental School, especially working with children and patients with complex medical or additional support needs. I was drawn towards Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) and shadowed the Glasgow OMFS Team, as my 3^rd year elective. After watching my first 12-hour head and neck cancer operation - I was hooked! I was amazed by the surgical team’s ability to help their patients continue to eat, speak, and minimise any facial disfigurement by carefully resecting their tumour and re-constructing the defect with tissue they had harvested from other places in the body.  

With this new interest in head and neck cancer, I studied an intercalated BSc in Clinical Medical Science after my 4^th year of Dentistry. I was excited to investigate the role of the Human Papillomavirus in young patients with Head and Neck Cancer. This was my first experience of medical research. The highlight of this year was a trip to London to give my first oral presentation at a national conference. I would recommend anyone in medical or dental school to consider an intercalated year! 

Working as a Dentist   

I worked for one year as a Foundation Dentist in General Dental Practice and then continued my training through two years of Dental Core Training. During this time, I rotated in posts in the Public Dental Service and OMFS teams in Glasgow and St John’s, Livingston. I gained experience in new skills such as sedation, paediatric and additional support needs dentistry and the basics of oral and maxillofacial surgery. It was a great way to ensure working in OMFS was something I could see myself enjoying for many years prior to committing to the specialty.  

To be eligible to apply for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Higher Specialty Training (ST3), candidates must be dual qualified in Dentistry and Medicine and have successfully completed MRCS by date of offer. This can be achieved by various pathways as demonstrated in the figure below.  

Figure 1 - OMFS Training Pathways 

Image credit to British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Website. https://www.baoms.org.uk/professionals/careers_in_omfs.aspx 

Undergraduate Journey: Part Two – The University of Glasgow. (2019- 2022) 

I was able to directly enter year three of Medical School because of my Dentistry degree. Our year group was hit with COVID-19 related changes. However, previous experiences working in OMFS made me feel useful on clinical placements. I enjoyed the opportunity to develop my paediatric interests during placements with the Craniofacial and ENT airway teams at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children.  

I maintained relationships with OMFS Teams in Scotland and continued my academic interests. I was elected the Scotland Representative for JTG BAOMS and formed Glasgow University’s first Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Society, working with a team of first and second-degree students to run two years of monthly OMFS Teaching Webinars. I felt this helped us form a team and keep each other motivated and working towards our OMFS goals. 

Post-Dual Qualification Journey  

Upon graduating, I commenced Academic Foundation Training in the West of Scotland. I have worked in General Medicine and Surgery, Renal Medicine and Diabetes and Endocrinology. My experience of FY1 has been very similar to my non-academic FY1 colleagues. However, FY2 will provide more opportunities to develop academic interests. My current post in diabetes has been an excellent example as we have weekly research meetings as a department, which allows progression of the Team’s work in developing AI models to help predict and hopefully prevent inpatient hypoglycaemic events.   

What’s Next? 

I am looking forward to continuing my upcoming Academic FY2 posts in Oncology and Neonatology. Thereafter, I will be looking to achieve my core surgical competencies and MRCS exam to become eligible to apply for OMFS Surgical Training. 

Along the way; outside work 

Maintaining balance of work, friends, family, and hobbies is a challenge for all doctors and dentists in training. I have been fortunate to maintain many of these aspects in my life outside work. I have played Netball for Scotland, played violin, have sang in musicals and choirs and cared for my family through challenges. I’ve spent time with friends, met and married my husband! I am lucky to have a supportive network who I hope will continue to help me along my planned journey and any challenges to come.  

Dr Gillian White
Academic FY2