How I pay it forward

Achieving your management goals can sometimes feel like pulling teeth. But that’s not the only thing that links leadership practice and dental practices. 

In both scenarios, you may find yourself battling mountains of paperwork. You have to deal with the unexpected in stressful, high-pressure environments; be at your best at all times; and think on your feet. 

“The dental environment tends to be very agile,” says Louisa Dallinger CMgr FCMI, business development and practice manager at Reginald O’Neill Dental Care in Billericay, Essex. 

“You have to be present and adapt all the time to people’s needs and what’s happening in that moment.” 

• “Good care starts with good leadership”

Louisa knows what lies at the root of both disciplines: she’s a qualified dental nurse who’s trained in dental sedation and radiography, but her day-to-day role involves looking after everything from stock levels to expanding the practice’s patient base and developing its services. 

Follow your dreams

Prior to joining in 2009, Louisa cut her teeth as area manager for The Body Shop, running three of its flagship stores in the West Midlands. She recalls being inspired by founder Anita Roddick, who was a very visible proponent of following your dreams – that if you stick to the path and work hard, you can achieve anything you want. 

For Louisa, that would mean pivoting into the health sphere. 

“Dentistry always fascinated me,” she says. “My great-uncle was a dentist, and I had other family members working within the health service. I trained as a dental nurse, and then it just grew from there with more qualifications and courses. The more information I got and the more I learned from people, the more engaged with the industry I became.”

Beyond dentistry

Louisa describes herself as a good fit for management – she’s a highly organised people person who’s keen to challenge herself and develop her skills. She had an early triumph when managing the referrals part of the business, engaging and bringing in new dentists to refer their patients. Under Louisa’s guidance, the practice went from no dentist referrals to 54 in the first year. 

Yet as she followed that road further into management, she saw just how many different hats she’d have to wear – and that the dental industry could be particularly insular, with scant opportunity to learn from peers. This is what showed her the value of professional organisations. 

• How I developed an interactive reporting dashboard for the NHS

First, she joined the Association of Dental Administrators and Managers. Then, she discovered the Level 7 Senior Leader apprenticeship. Her employer was keen to see her develop and was therefore sympathetic when she asked to go for it. Louisa completed the course, with a distinction, in 2023.

“Marrying the practical experience I’d accrued over 15 years along with the educational aspect was perfect, as it was ‘on the job’ and very relevant,” she says. “It was beneficial to the business too, because the owner could see my growth in skill set having a direct effect on the business.”