Sydney NSW - Stephen Neeson BDS (Belfast)

Age

31

Previous job in the UK:

I worked 1 year in Vocational Training in Belfast before moving to Lisburn, where I worked for 2 years in an NHS/Private mixed practice.

How did you end up in Australia

I came out here for a week's holiday whilst hopping between South Africa and America during a university elective.

I really loved what I saw in Sydney when I was on my elective and decided I would have to come back to see the rest of Australia

I started researching how to get back out here, and considering that qualifications were not a problem (as there were no equivalence exams for UK or Irish dentists), it seemed relatively easy.

In my search to get a working visa I was referred to DJS and they offered to sponsor my 457 visa. Since then, I have been sponsored twice by them on 457 visas for a total of five and a half years in Australia and I have now applied for permanent residency.

Where have you worked in Australia?

We have worked all around Australia.

My partner and I started out in Sydney and then moved on to Melbourne where we stayed for 18 months. From there, we decided to see a bit of Australia and moved through Adelaide, Perth, (where we lived and worked in Mandura for 3 months, which was great), then on to Broome (in the Northern WA). We didn't find any work there, so moved to Darwin. We thought we would stay in Darwin for 2 weeks, but it was great there (good job, good experience and a great young dentist crew) so we ended up being there for 9 months!!

Describe your current dentistry work:

I definitely don't do your typical dentistry!

I work between two very different dental practices.

I spend three days a week in Hornsby at a private practice doing general practice dentistry.

I also spend one week per month working for Justice Health, that is, dentistry within the jails and government clinics in NSW, sometimes flying to the destination and spending a week in a new town that I otherwise would probably not visit. These towns rarely have access to dental treatment so there is a lot of emergency work and the patients are grateful!

The jails are interestingly different and the prisoners get searched prior to entering the surgery room and there is usually a guard in attendance to watch over and ensure that there are no problems. It is the first time as a dentist that I've had a briefing on riot procedures!

There are some interesting rules governing prisoners' dental treatment eg:

• we don't do root fillings if you have in posterior teeth unless OH is excellent and it is the only treatment necessary
• Plenty of extraction experience as well as simple fillings and scalings
• Inmates get dentures if their sentence is long enough for treatment to be finished

What are the advantages of working where you do?

At the jails, I get paid by the hour and am reliant on the prison system to bring the patients in. Often while waiting for the prisoners to come to the surgery, I have some time to relax. The hours are not that intense and due to the nature of the work, the pay is pretty good for government work.

At the Hornsby practice and at private practices all over Australia actually, I have found I am much more relaxed time-wise than I was elsewhere in the UK. The working conditions are better, and the surgeries are 'nicer'. In the UK, I would be seeing double the number of patients in the same amount of time!

Anything else you love about your new home?

I have had the opportunity to do my PADI scuba divers license up at Cairns, which was great. The lifestyle is much more outdoors oriented and healthy. I dream of ending up in a nice coastal area in Australia sometime soon

Do you miss home?

Now that I have the opportunity to get my Permanent Residency in Australia, I am finding that the more choice I have, the harder it is to make a decision!

I have all the same issues as any expat. The family ties at home sometimes make me feel a little home-sick, especially when there are weddings and big holidays like Christmas. But during the day-to-day, the lifestyle I have here is so much better that it kind of balances out!

If you are interested in having an Australian experience like this one, contact Dentist Job Search at www.djs.com.au / info@djs.com.au