PROFFESSIONAL PROFILE

PROFESSION: Dental Surgeon

NAMES: Wandile T.

SURNAME: Nxumalo

DATE OF BIRTH: 15th January

NATIONALITY: Swati

QUALIFICATIONS: National Senior Certificate, Bachelor of Dental Surgery

INTITUTIONS: Mananga College, University of the Western Cape

Dentistry can be defined as the treatment of diseases and other conditions that affects the oral cavity. It encompasses the repair and extraction of teeth and the fabrication of artificial or prosthetic ones. It is not only limited to the oral cavity, dentists can serve as crucial frontline health care workers as most of the common internal diseases that affect us today have some sort of early manifestation within the oral cavity and can be quickly identified and addressed for example diabetes, hypertension, HIV/AIDS and other viral and fungal infections.

1. Key Skills

• My practice focuses on assessing and treating patients of all ages and backgrounds with any dental problems. I do so by providing primary and secondary health care. Under primary health care I provide comprehensive oral health education and information, comprehensive dental examinations, and school health care programs. Secondary health care can be divide into invasive and non-invasive procedures. Under non-invasive procedures I place fissure sealants, primary tooth restorations, fluoride treatment, prosthetics, scaling and polishing. Some of the invasive procedures include secondary tooth restorations, extractions, root canal therapy, pulp therapy, minor biopsies, root planning, orthodontic treatment, crown and bridge work as well as surgical extraction of impacted teeth.
• I provide comprehensive dental examination, diagnosis and treatment planning.
• I have been trained to take radiographs (x-rays) and interpret them as they are used as a diagnostic aid.
• I give all my patients updated comprehensive oral health education and evidence based information because I strongly believe that prevention is better than cure.
• I thoroughly enjoy working with children, and am equipped to provide pediatric dental services for children of all ages. It is imperative that children are taught to maintain proper oral hygiene as they normally have 28/32 of their permanent teeth by the age of 13.
• Topical fluoride treatment and placement of fissure sealants are preventative procedures.
• I provide routine scaling and polishing (cleaning) services.
• I am able to assess the need for and replace missing teeth. This is achieved by making either permanent or removable false and prosthetic teeth. This may be a single tooth (a crown), multiple teeth (bridges) or dentures.
• I can also replace the entire jaw of teeth through the use of dentures. Dentures are artificial teeth which are easily removable from the patients’ mouth. Complete and partial dentures are routinely prescribed as one of the first treatment options.
• Extraction of decayed and severely compromised teeth is an essential cornerstone of effective dentistry. I am able to extract all the natural teeth in both adults and children.
• I also extract impacted teeth, this is not limited to wisdom teeth.
• Assessment and treatment of pain and infections related to the oral cavity. This includes but is not limited to pre and post extraction complications, abscesses, and fractures.
• Restoration of decayed and fractured teeth.
• Replacement of defective restorations/fillings.
• Recementation of displaced crowns and bridges.
• Denture repairs, relining and rebasing.
• Pulp therapy. This includes pulp vitality testing, direct pulp capping, indirect pulp capping and pulpotomy.

I pride myself on having good communication skills, this includes both verbal and non-verbal. I can speak 2 languages namely English and siSwati. I also understand some Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, French and Shona.

I have great note taking skills. Due to the educational system I went through and profession I decided to pursue I have developed an adept note taking ability, managing to identify key information and summarize it in an easily understandable manner quickly.

I have a finely tuned problem solving ability which synergizes well with my ability to adapt to new settings and environments to allow me to work with similar efficiency at all times. These abilities have been thoroughly developed during my dental training as one had to work in several different locations. Community Outreach programs, volunteer work as well as regular locums (part time work) have also greatly contributed to their enhancement.

2. Experience

Since December 2020 I have been working at Real Relaxed Dentistry (Pty) Ltd which is a private dental practice based in Sidvwashini, Mbabane which is owned and managed by myself.

I completed a 5-year dental program at the University of the Western Cape. I attended from 2014-2018 completing it in record time without ever writing a supplementary exam. Throughout the course I was given a lot of contact time with patients, beginning in 2^nd year right until a month before graduation.

During my second year of study I was part of an initiative that provided comprehensive oral health education, diet plans and basic dental aids (toothbrush and toothpaste) for grade 5-7 learners at Belhar Primary School in the Western Cape.

During my third year of study I volunteered in a community outreach program in Bottleray, Western Cape. We provided free dental examinations and treatment for all the children with a history of dental pain attending Bottleray Primary School.

In my final year I spent two weeks on the Phelophepha Health Care Train, providing free basic dental services for a community in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal.

Since graduating from tertiary in December 2018 I have been based in Eswatini. I have done locums for Dr. Thembisile Dlamini at Mdumo Oral Health Services in Mbabane and Dr. Thando Dlamini at The Dental Surgery in Manzini.

Since returning to Eswatini I have participated in a number of volunteer and outreach programs in both the private and public sectors with institutions such as Ministry of Health, Rotary Club and Linamandla Medical Centre.

3. Treat Patients with The Following Conditions:

• Pain with a dental origin
• Infections (bacterial, viral, fungal)
• Trauma (fractures, cracks, abrasion lesions, attrition)
• Dry sockets
• Dental Abscesses
• Bleeding Gums (any gum disease)
• Plaque and calculus
• Tooth Decay
• Impacted Teeth
• Extrinsic staining
• Absent or missing teeth
• Halitosis(bad breathe)
• Malaligned Teeth(need braces)
• Unidentified oral growths or swelling
• Endodontics (Root Canal Therapy)
• Crown and Bridgework