DentaltownUK May 2017 - 102

day in the life of ...

Name: Sunmeet Kandhari
Age: 23
University: King's College London
fourth-year dental student
Interesting fact: I work as a quad bike/
activity instructor in a kid's day camp
during the summer, and am a fencing
coach for the KCL Fencing Society.
I live in Elephant and Castle during
term time, but am from Feltham. If my
flatmate doesn't wake me up with her loud
elephant feet, I usually wake up around 8
a.m. each morning, and depending on the
mode of transport, it's a five-minute drive,
10-minute sprint and a 20-minute walk to
University. Or, eight if I take Peter with
me-he's my penny board. I live in a flat
with three other people I met in halls from
my first year. Aside from those poor life
choices, I also have some plants.
My breakfast is usually whatever I can
put into my mouth as fast as possible
without choking. It's taken some time to
finesse the routine but as it stands right
now it's 1 cup of lukewarm tea (you can't
down hot), peanut butter toast, a banana
and an apple. As for where I eat it, the first
two in my flat while I pack my bag, the last
two while I'm on my penny board. It's a
good thing my jacket has big pockets; they
really don't make banana-shaped holes in
pants like they used to. Shame, really.
I decided to go into a career in dentistry
because it was the best jack-of-all-trades. I
knew I wanted to do something involving
people, a heavy scientific element and the
ability to use my hands. Four years in, I
think I made the right choice. Then again,

102

MAY 2017 // dentaltownuk.com

I am still in my student bubble; no one's
made me extract 30 teeth in one day yet! If
anyone is reading this and would like to
have a fourth-year dental student do such a
thing, please let me know-I have quotas
to meet. I sat on the King's Dentistry
interview panel a while ago and all I could
think was, 'That was me four years ago,
and now here I am on the other side,
helping to make a life-changing decision'.
The candidates weren't the only ones with
butterflies in their stomach that day.
Some of the topics we've been lectured
about have been quite interesting-human
disease for example. But it's hard to top
being on the clinic: practicing on your own
patients, problem solving when things
don't go to plan. Last year I treated one of
my friends; she, being a medical student,
was surprised by how practical our degree
was. For her, most of her time on clinic was
spent shadowing doctors, taking histories,
doing some bloods here and there. But
with her I went through diagnosis,
investigations and even early treatment.
That kind of "hands-on" element isn't on
the agenda with many other courses.
The course is challenging but quite
rightly so-it wouldn't be a five-year
degree otherwise! But if I had to pin it
down to one thing which is the bane of my
life: secondary impressions for C/C. Zinc
oxide eugenol is not my friend!
I'm not sure about what I wish to go into
after I qualify. Even now I juggle my
extracurricular activities alongside the
degree and I think those are the only
things that stop me from burning out. I'd
like to take that same ethos forward in my
practicing career-one day hospital, one
day teaching, one day practice. Who
knows? I do like the idea of being a teacher,
and running the DentEd scheme in King's
has only solidified that ambition. On the
flip side, I'm in the process of joining the
army as a dentist. Two conflicting careers
on the surface, but if you dig deeper you'll
find they do share a lot of similarities.
I am the president of the KCL Fencing
Society, where I get the privilege of legally
stabbing people with swords-what's not
to like? I started for the first time in
university a few years ago.

As far as achievements go, I wouldn't
really consider myself that athletically
'able'. I wasn't that sporty in school-just a
bit of cross-country here and there, not the
first pick for a team by any means. Thanks
for that, asthma. And then I started
fencing, not exactly sure what changed.
But I wasn't terrible, shock horror. I think
part of it's because fencing isn't all about
how fit you are, it's known as a 'physical
game of chess' for a reason and I couldn't
agree more.
After training, I usually get back around
11 p.m. Not really much left in the evening
then. Usually I just shower off my fencing
sweatiness, warm up the frozen meal I
prepped over the weekend (yes I'm a
meal-prep-Sunday kind of guy) and reply
to my emails. It's not all doom and gloom
though; I have Wednesdays and Friday
evenings off from fencing, so usually I
spend those making enemies with my liver.
It's a turbulent relationship.
Depends on your definition of exciting.
Currently, some of my friends and I are in
the process of organizing a pilot scheme
within the dental school. We're looking to
assay the effect of emotional intelligence on
communication skills, and whether or not
it can be changed. We just got approved for
some funding, so hopefully we can get that
project off the ground.
Other than that, there are lots of other
things going on in the King's sphere, and
it's one of the things I love about university
life really. There's so much to do, and if you
don't find your niche you can always start
it; with so many people around, you're
bound to find someone as like-minded as
you. Just this year I was involved in
planning a sports day between all the
dental schools in the country, organising
events for over 1,000+ people. That same
term I acted in a performance show about
teeth-a surreal experience to say the least.
Now, if you were to ask me what I had
planned in fourth year, I probably wouldn't
have mentioned either of those. I think it
just goes to show how you can end up
surprising even yourself. So that is why I
genuinely don't know what the future
holds for me. And I think there's some
excitement in that. ■
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