DentaltownUK May 2018 - 52

Name: Michael Thomas
Age: 51
Job title: Registered dental specialist in
Prosthodontics. Associate dentist for
BUPA Dental. Senior Teaching
FellowSpecialist Clinical Teacher,
Conservative & MI Dentistry, Deputy
Programme Manager for the Advanced
Minimum Intervention MSc by Distance
Learning, KCL Dental Institute at Guy's
Hospital
Where did you qualify? Guy's Hospital
dental school, when it was part of UMDS
(United Medical and Dental Schools of
Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals).
How would you sum yourself up in just
3 words? Happy, healthy, helpful

52

MAY 2018 // dentaltownuk.com

What time do you usually get up on
a weekday?
6.00am or 5.10am if I am travelling
to London to teach.
How far away from work do you live?
I live 7 miles away from the practice
where I work for four days a week.
What do you eat for breakfast?
Usually cereal (home-made muesli)
with fruit juice.
What are your favourite areas of dentistry
and what do you find most challenging?
The most challenging area of dentistry
is being able to determine what the
expectations of the patient are and to
communicate what the challenges are in
being able to achieve those expectations.
However, once an understanding
has been gained, the patient becomes a
friend during treatment and this makes
for an enjoyable relationship.
Is there any one patient who has
most stood out for you during your career
so far?
I will always remember my first ever
restoration (MO amalgam on LL4), as
will the patient! There have been many
memorable patients, but a patient advised
me yesterday that I had changed his life.
Being a dentist and being able to
change people's lives is a privilege and
extremely rewarding.
Do you express an interest in business?
Do you think there is enough in the dental
curriculum about the business side of
running a dental business?
I do not consider myself to be a natural
businessman, but there is, of course, a
business element to providing dental
care. I have owned and run a large practice
and have acquired business skills through
this. I now work as an associate which
allows me to focus on the patient care
aspect of dentistry.

At present the curriculum does not
include the business side of dentistry,
and it is difficult to see what would be
dropped to allow this to be taught in
any detail.
Those with a natural business acumen
will also probably not benefit from this
teaching.
Tell us more about your longer-term
ambitions. What do you see yourself
doing in five years?
I enjoy teaching and this has allowed me
many opportunities to travel and make
new friends. However, I continue to
enjoy meeting and providing dental care
for a wide variety of patients.
I therefore hope to continue with
both of these roles and look forward to
working with colleagues to introduce
and develop new concepts and innovations
in fields such as MI dentistry and digital
dentistry in my teaching and clinical
work.
It is always exciting to see what
opportunities arise and I am sure there
will be something new happening within
the next five years to keep me enthused
and innervated.
What did you find most challenging
during your undergraduate studies and
what pieces of advice would you give to
younger students now entering the
profession?
The most challenging aspect of
undergraduate education was to be able
to balance the study required with being
able to enjoy life as a student in London.
There is always something else to
read and study, and it takes a lot of
organisation and discipline to time
manage effectively.
I think this remains a big challenge
for any student entering the profession
and as such I have always found it useful
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