GAP Australasian-Dentist-May June 2019

Category 2 AustrAlAsiAn Dentist ultradent’s new territory manager Fiona norrish is ultradent’s newest team member. she will be territory Manager for Victoria and tasmania. Fiona comes to ultradent with a background in clinical dentistry as a dental assistant, dental therapist and surgery practice manager. Her move to sales in 2002 allowed her to combine her passion for customer service and sales with her clinical experience and devotion to patient care. Fiona’s sales career has included roles in implants, restorative, preventative and the digital space. in her spare time she indulges a love of travel, interior design, French culture and yoga and recently a renovation of her home. Fiona will be in utah for training in May and she will be looking forward to starting her new position on her return. u Fiona can be reached by phone on: 0449 967 944 Category people n ws Mates helping local mates smile i n one of the oldest dental surgeries in Australia, built by thomas Gaydon in 1894, local dentist Dr Brett Phillips proudly serves the Childers and Wide Bay community. With a dream to ‘slay decay’ and aptly known as the Decay slayer, Dr Phillips has been improving the dental health of his community for the past 25 years. A little over 300 kilometres north of Brisbane and 52 kilometres south west of Bundaberg lays the regional community of Childers. it has been a tough few years for the local residents; with a severe drought crippling properties and a hail storm that tore through the town in september 2018. residents have felt the pinch. the Childers community is resilient, but as a local business owner, Dr Phillips has seen how recent hardships have taken their toll on many people in the area. “Childers is a disadvantaged regional community and has one of the lowest socio-economic profiles in Australia. We are a strong community and there are many people that do a lot for others, even when there’s not a lot of money left over for them to look after themselves,” he says. “We know it’s tough for people in rural communities to access the same services or frequently visit health professionals as those living in the cities, and it’s having a huge impact on their health.” According to the national rural Health Alliance 31.7% of rural residents in Australia have untreated dental decay, compared to 24% of those living in urban areas. And in Childers, the waiting list to see a public dentist is more than two years long. Passionate about ‘local mates, helping local mates’, Dr Phillips was eager to find a way to make a difference. the opportunity arose after learning about sunsuper’s Dreams for a Better World program, offering small businesses grants to help them improve their local community. With his dream to help rural people get back their dignity and improve their dental health, Dr Phillips’ dream was selected from more than 400 entries, came second at the Grand Final event and his practice received $7,500 in grants from sunsuper The best from Europe and Call ICONA on 1300 442 662 or visit our website www.icona.net.au A customised solution for every practice Continued page 4