Since graduating from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2016, Mina Leung has established a career as a community dental officer, which allows her to focus on patients from marginalised groups, and those with additional needs. She describes what she loved about Queen Mary, and how her programme prepared her for life after university.
“My first role after graduating was as a dental foundation trainee, which is a compulsory stage for anyone becoming an NHS dentist. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to treat the general public while getting a clear picture of NHS practice.
In my second year after graduating, I worked as a dental core trainee with an Oral and Maxillofacial surgery team, dealing with head and neck conditions, such as fractures and mouth cancers. This improved my skillset in Oral Surgery and my time management, but it was also very gruelling at times – we were essentially on call like junior doctors.
So, wanting to maintain a better work-life balance, I found a community role as part of a brilliant team in Salford. The job satisfaction I got from helping patients with additional needs made me realise I wanted to pursue this particular path.
Now I work in Southend as a community dental officer. I work with people with additional needs, such as housebound patients, patients with anxiety, special needs and learning difficulties. Part of my work also involves treating patients from marginalised communities, for example, homeless people and patients from travelling communities.
I chose Queen Mary specifically because I’d heard good things about the dentistry programme. What I loved about the Institute was how the small classes were. There were maybe, at most, eighty students in my class, with about eight of us in my clinical group. Because of the small class sizes, we all became really tight knit in a friendly, supportive environment.
As well as being extremely experienced and knowledgeable, my lecturers were all really friendly too – I never felt scared of asking them a question or approaching them. Another thing I particularly loved about the Institute was the scheme it runs where older students come and help the younger students, giving additional lectures and helping us to understand concepts more fully. Because more advanced students would hang out in the dental labs, we learnt a lot from lab technicians, which was really useful when graduating and finding jobs in the real world.
Outside of the classroom, what I loved about my time at Queen Mary was the diversity of the area, especially Whitechapel market. In fact, my husband and I now live in Mile End!”