DentaltownUK March 2018 - 47

day in the life of

Name: Dr. Shalin Kapoor
Age: 45
Job title: Dentist/Photographer/Director
Where did you qualify from?
Guy's Dental Hospital in 1996
Qualifications: BSc(Hons) Biochemistry
and Oral Biology, BDS(Lon)
How would you sum yourself
up in just three words?
Focused, unpredictable, nonconformist.

What time do you normally get up
on weekdays, and how far away
from work do you live?
I get up around 4 or 5 a.m. every day
(including weekends). Early mornings are very
quiet and spiritual. I leave the house shortly
after getting up, either to go to the gym and
exercise, to take photos or just to drive around
in my beloved Smart car. Sometimes on
weekends I hit central London for filming or
photography. It's full of colourful characters
at that time of the morning! I have set up
four practices and I'm currently enjoying a
two-year sabbatical after selling the last one.
What are your favourite areas of
dentistry?
I've been practicing almost exclusively
NHS dentistry in a mainly exempt area since
I qualified 21 years ago. Some patients I saw
as toddlers now bring in their own children!
I also particularly enjoy designing practices; I designed, decorated and helped to build
all of my own personally. All the surgeries
were finalists in the 'Most Attractive Practice'
categories at dental awards.
Tell us about your longer-term ambitions.
Where will you be in 5 years time?
My wife and I were on the same tube
carriage when the Parsons Green bomb failed
to detonate properly a few months ago. Since
that could have been our last day alive, it
has made us look differently at life. We have
more passion for it and, even though we said
we wouldn't operate another practice, we've
decided to open a fifth one. It will be unique
in design and have a few surprises.

Subscribe to
DentaltownUK
To ensure that you're
sent each issue as soon
as it's available, head
to dentaltownuk.com.
Remember, this does not
automatically register
you on the forums;
to do that, visit
dentaltown.com.

What are your interests outside dentistry?
After attending a part-time filmmaking
course at the Met Film School, based at
Ealing Film Studios, I made my first short
movie, The Road. (Click here to watch.) It
has been chosen to feature at a number of
international film festivals. It was extremely
low-budget movie and I decided to write,
direct, produce, shoot, edit and even act in it
(alongside colleagues and family). I'm working

on a new short movie and on a feature-length
script that has been in the works for seven
years now. I'm also a keen photographer, and
many of the photos I have shot are on my
Instagram account, @shalinkapoor.
What do you believe will be the biggest
changes we face in dentistry?
The new NHS contract. If NHS Dentistry
disappears, competition increases within
the private sector because everybody would
be independent. It's unlikely to disappear
completely, but a new contract allows the
government to put whatever it wants into
it. It will be a "take it or leave it" contract,
as it was back in 2006. Possible clauses that
could destabilise some practices are:
1. Time-limited contracts. Fixed-term
contracts of maybe five years, which
are subject to meeting all the requirements within the contract. This
would destroy goodwill values of
NHS Contracts overnight. Banks are
unlikely to lend for these short terms.
2. Standardised UDA values (possibly
weighted depending on areas of high
need). Good for those on low UDA
rates; potentially devastating for those
who are on higher values.
3. Government's aim is always to increase
access figures without putting more
money in. A clause could be included
that states you must take a certain
percentage of new patients a year to
retain your contract value, or clawback
will be enforced.
What advice would you give to younger
students now entering the profession?
Don't worry about what your colleagues
are doing and how much they're making. You
don't need to have a particular car, watch or
lifestyle to prove you're doing well. Once you
stop comparing and start living your life, your
work becomes easy and rewarding.
Most importantly, spend within your
means and keep your debts down. Never be too
busy. Slow down and take time to appreciate
nature and the small things in life. ■

dentaltownuk.com \\ MARCH 2018

47
https://www.instagram.com/shalinkapoor/?hl=en http://www.dentaltownuk.com https://vimeo.com/231613631 http://www.dentaltown.com http://www.dentaltownuk.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DentaltownUK March 2018
