Dr Sophie Haydon and Dr Michelle Yip lead a female-dominated, calm and caring team of highly trained professionals who pride themselves on providing high quality, ethical and personalised dental care.

Tell us about your journey in business.

After spending time working as associate dentists, both with young families, we talked about changing our career trajectory and embarking on the journey and challenge of practice ownership. Our dream to build and develop our careers and ultimately find professional and family life balance was the main inspiration to start this journey.  We knew a partnership would be ideal for business so that we could hopefully balance the demands of life and work. Although these first few years of starting up has been a steep learning curve and a good challenge, the partnership has allowed us to establish the foundations of the business in a way that was conducive to our needs.

What tactics have you found most effective for building professional relationships?

We found attending professional development courses and networking events most effective. It’s a great way to soundboard ideas or troubleshoot issues off others across varied disciplines in the profession. We have formed some wonderful relationships with likeminded practices and small business owners in the Canberra community through these events.

What challenges have you faced as a woman in your industry?

Being able to meet multiple demands of career and family life – the expectation to “work like you don’t have kids and parent like you don’t work” – places a significant mental and physical load on a woman in the workforce. We’re trying to overcome this by starting the business together; we have shared values and goals, and we job share to be able to work clinically and conduct the administrative tasks demanded by business ownership.

Like many industries, women can still be underestimated in dentistry, which can be frustrating. We have overcome this by continually developing our skills, following our goals, staying true to our values and continually growing and developing our business.

How important is continuous learning in your field?

Continuous learning is imperative in dentistry to maintain the best standard in evidence-based care. There are always developments that mean more skills/knowledge or tools in your problem-solving toolbox.

Attending continuing education lectures and seminars, reading professional magazines, catch-ups with colleagues and conversations with mentors are all important. We encourage all our dentists and staff to complete continuing education or new education opportunities. We have five dentists at our practice and after each event someone attends, we share knowledge and ideas and discuss how we can use and implement them within our working environment. A collegiate environment is invaluable in our profession.

What do you see as the most significant developments in your industry?

There has been a big uptake in digital technology in the dental industry. This allows us to provide a wider range of services to our clients more comfortably. We have implemented many of these into our practice with things like same day crowns, in-chair whitening services, and digital scanner.

What are your thoughts on the importance of workplace culture?

Workplace culture is essential for a healthy harmonious business, every team member deserves respect and to be valued. We support further education, ask for and value feedback through catch-up sessions, encourage open and honest communication, and have regular team bonding dinners. Our team is predominantly female – from dentists to assistants and administration staff. Many of our team work around school drop-offs and pick-up, and some of our younger staff are balancing work and school/higher education. We are flexible in the workplace to create both a positive and productive work environment which benefits everyone involved.

How does your business contribute to your local community?

Each patient receives a goody bag after their check-up appointment with the usual toothbrush, toothpaste and floss in it. We have a program where those who would like can donate their bag to Toora Women Inc. A lot of our patients attend every six months and don’t have the need for it or prefer to donate their bag to a good cause. Toora supports vulnerable women in Canberra by providing safety and residential support among many other services.

To book an appointment, visit kingstonsmiles.com.au, email [email protected] or call 02 6295 9333.