A dentist who treats the child, not just the tooth.

01A frightening visit

I didn't come to pediatric dentistry by accident. When I was seven, I had a decayed tooth treated — I was frightened, I was crying, and the treatment went ahead anyway. That fear stayed with me for years.

02What it changed

Once I moved into pediatric dentistry, I felt it was my responsibility to make sure no child left my chair carrying what I'd carried. We slow appointments down, explain everything to the child, and when a child can't cooperate yet, we work through desensitisation instead of forcing anything.

“I felt it was my responsibility to make sure no child left my chair carrying what I'd carried.”

03Becoming a mother

I came to this field already a mother. In my early years of practice, every small patient reminded me of my own daughter — treating them with empathy, without ever scaring a child into cooperating, felt like the only honest way to practise.

04The parent's side

That empathy extends to parents too. I don't shame a mother who walks in with a child who has widespread decay. I know what it's like to be a working mother — some evenings I've come home too tired to make sure my own children brushed properly, and it showed up later as early white-spot lesions on their teeth. Because I'm a dentist, I caught it early. Most parents don't have that advantage.

05Why Chutti's exists

That's the whole reason Chutti's exists as a dedicated practice: so a visit here is something a child can actually enjoy, not just get through.

“So a visit here is something a child can actually enjoy, not just get through.”