Staff Profile

Hamish Cameron

Dental students learn from a range of tutors, from vastly experienced senior lecturers to newly graduated dentists who understand first-hand what current students are going through.

Hamish Cameron is in his first year as an intern at the Dental School Clinic, where he’s involved in supervising students, and already he’s seen changes to the course he did.

“It’s always been competitive to get in, but now they’ve got the UMAT as well, which has to be good for patient relations. It’ll help to get well-rounded students as well as those who are academically sound. Dentists need people skills and common sense,” says Hamish.

He decided to do an intern year rather than going straight into private practice as many of his colleagues had done. Apart from the clinic, he works at Dunedin Public Hospital, being on call for one week in four.

“Interns experience clinical sides of dentistry that you’d never see in private practice. In the emergency department the maxillo-facial teams get involved in things like facial suturing, and we get to do it if we can, or we can turn to registrars or consultants for advice. In theatre we’re doing things like repairing fractured jaws.”

The work has Hamish interested in exploring a career in oral surgery once his internship is complete. “You get a taste all the things you could do and it gives you an idea of what you might want to specialise in later. You do sacrifice the kind of income you’d be getting in private practice but that’s not important at this early stage.”

Hamish enjoys helping people. “It’s great to get satisfied patients who’ve got relief from discomfort after they’ve had toothache for days or weeks. And we get some great before-and-after results restoring teeth. It may be a job to you but it’s a great change for patients.”