Dentist Is All Smiles After Awards Nod

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A dentist from Wincanton has been rewarded for gambling on a career switch by being nominated for several national awards.

Murray Hawkins, 56, trained as an economist and worked in marketing before deciding on a career in dentistry. He was fed up with his London job and commuting but was unsure of his future career until he took up sailing in 1977.

"I had no scientific background and no interest in it really until I got into sailing and became fascinated in the physics involved with that," he said. "I borrowed my brother's science books and read them on the train and suddenly I realised that I wanted to become a dentist. It was like having cataracts removed as everything suddenly became clear."

With no scientific qualifications, he embarked on a correspondence course in physics and chemistry before taking his A levels at Amersham College. He went on to complete a degree in dental surgery at Manchester University before launching his new career.

Mr. Hawkins began practising in Taunton and has remained in the South West ever since. He moved to South Somerset to marry his childhood sweetheart who was working as a teacher in Gillingham, where he now runs his own practice, Winning Smiles, which employs 20 people.

"I established Winning Smiles because I wanted to build a practice providing pain-free preventive dentistry in a relaxing, spa-like environment," he said.

Mr. Hawkins is set to be rewarded for the decision and hopes to outshine his peers at the Private Dentistry awards ceremony to be held at London's Intercontinental hotel on Saturday.

"The awards ceremony should be good fun and we are looking forward to a good night out," he added. "It would be great to win the practice of the year award but we are up against some heavy hitters, so it will be a bit like Yeovil winning the FA Cup.

"The cornerstone of our success has been the use of a pain-free American injection system called Vibraject. We are one of the only practices in the UK offering the system that uses tiny vibrations which prevent patients feeling the penetration of the needle.

"Most patients don't even realise that they have had an injection at all."

Mr. Hawkins' practice has been operating since 2006 and is in line for Best Private Practice, Best Patient Care, Best Dental Team, Most Innovative Practice and two more minor categories.

Mr. Hawkins, who lives with his wife and two daughters in Blackford, near Wincanton, says he modelled himself on his own childhood dentist, Alf Peters. He said Mr. Peters treated patients rather than just teeth and he has adopted the same philosophy at his own surgery.

Mr. Hawkins' postgraduate education also included a one year course in aesthetic dentistry and another in facial aesthetics.

Article first published by the Western Gazette

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