In the lead up to his course in October, we caught up with Specialist Paediatric Dentist, Dr Udit Bhatnagar.
During his schooling years, Udit always had a knack for health sciences. “I was very interested in how the body worked so I always knew I wanted to do something in
the health field,” he recalls. “I dabbled between medicine and dentistry and when I got accepted into both I had to make a decision. Dentistry sounded more exciting because I was doing more hands-on things.”
Soon after graduating, Udit decided to specialise as a paediatric dentist. “Everyone thought I was crazy to want to work with kids, but what I absolutely love about paediatrics is that dentistry is only a small part of what I do,” he says. “Paediatric dentistry is all about the child and providing an environment that makes that child feel safe and have fun. A large part of my day goes not only to providing dentistry but a lot of behaviour management and creating an enjoyable environment around the dentistry and that is very fulfilling. It is also very rewarding being able to help patients who other dentists are unable to treat, including those with special needs and complex medical backgrounds. I also really enjoy the fact that in paediatrics you are not just dealing with one patient at a time,” he explains. “Usually, I run multiple rooms at once and each room will have the child along with parents and siblings… it is a family affair and a very positive environment.”
“I also spend a lot of time in the operating theatre, which I really enjoy doing,” he adds.
Udit says his course, Paediatric Dentistry in the General Dental Practice, will aim to teach the general practitioner how to better treatment plan a paediatric patient.
“It will help attendees understand about the everyday things you will see in children, namely early childhood caries, enamel hypomineralisation and malocclusion,” he says. “We get a good understanding of what those things are, how to diagnose, how to properly develop a treatment plan and how to improve management skills in the dental chair. There is also a hands-on component so the attendees will learn how to do a pulpotomy, prepare a stainless-steel crown, a resin composite strip crown and a space maintainer. They walk away from the course being able to implement what they have learned the very next day in clinical practice.”
Udit, who recently moved to Perth from Sydney, says he loves being able to teach others. He has taught the ‘Paediatric Dentistry in General Dental Practice’ in Sydney for a few years now, which is regularly sold out, and is looking forward to bringing it to Perth for the first time.
“I enjoy being in a position where I have the privilege of teaching others and sharing my knowledge to help the dental profession better understand paediatric dentistry,” he says. “Being able to teach and mentor other dentists gives me a great deal of satisfaction knowing I can impart my knowledge to others and help them improve their clinical practice.”
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