NAME: Elizabeth Hudd 
PRACTICE: Grants Dental Practice, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire
POSITION: Hygienist, therapist, practice principal
1. How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance?
It is tricky being a sole trader and new to running a business. My vision is for systematisation, almost like a franchise, so anyone could follow procedures and run it successfully. I achieve this by working to my strengths and prioritising tasks and my time. One of the ways I do this is by using a time action board with four simple categories – ‘ideas’, ‘doing’, ‘done’ and ‘dump’. I outsource specialties which saves me time and squashes any subsequent anxiety.
Holistically I believe that finding the time to exercise makes you feel better and clears brain fog. This, along with family time and regular low level LED therapies, aid in maintaining a healthy work/life balance.
2. What measures do you take to ensure a healthy, stress-free practice?
At our practice we champion open communication and reflection, having mutual respect for all team members and honest boundaries on acceptable behaviour. We encourage positive energy and try our best to run to time.
In addition to the encouragement of healthy living practices,we provide a green vegetable smoothie for everyone working in the practice!
3. What steps do you take for the welfare and comfort of your patients?
Before our initial meeting with our patients we ask them to complete a smile questionnaire to get to know them better. We try to offer the most welcoming and comfortable environment possible by being kind and approachable but also by investing in equipment. In using the best labs, material and processes we strive for a great patient experience – for instance we will always stop mid-process if a patient experiences pain.
4. Name a product that improves your personal wellbeing.
As the saying goes: “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – I try to eat well and maintain personal wellbeing via nutrition. I also use Wellness Tree products for health. They offer peat hyperthemia, low level light and far infrared therapies.
5. Name a product/technique that has improved your professional wellbeing.
I’ve found that working with horses teaches you that how you behave influences the wellbeing of others, so working with like-minded team members is beneficial to professional wellbeing. This is where the use of personality tests can be conducive to identifying team strengths and where improvements can be made. This is conducted under a culture of reflective practices that allow us to carry on improving ourselves so that we may perform and provide to the best of our abilities.
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