Meet Dr Leon Smith

After completing dentistry in 2001, Leon worked in Katanning and Perth before an opportunity arose to head north.

“One of my friends, who was also a dentist, moved to Darwin and I decided to go with him as a bit of an adventure,” Leon recalls. “In Darwin, I began to do surgery,” he adds. “I met a surgeon from Adelaide who was very kind to let me be involved in surgery and he encouraged me to go on and train as a maxillofacial surgeon.”

The following year after finishing his primary exams, Leon moved to Melbourne to complete his medical degree, returning to Darwin for his internship.

After Leon and his wife had their third baby, they decided to move back to Perth, but Leon continued his working relationship with Darwin, heading up north to work three days a month.

“This has been a long-term commitment for me because Darwin was pretty integral in me getting into training. I have such a long history with Darwin as I have worked there as both a dentist and a doctor,” Leon explains. “I feel a bit obliged to provide a specialist surgical service in a place where they have limited access.

“I grew up regionally, where we certainly didn’t have access to maxillofacial surgeons, so as a specialist, I still feel that I have a role in that community. Certainly, if I didn’t make that move to Darwin, I don’t think I would have progressed to a specialist. It was an integral move for me.”

Back in Perth, Leon is kept busy, juggling commitments including his private practice, work at Royal Perth Hospital and lecturing.

“What I have tried to do over the last two years is to rationalise some of my commitments,” Leon says. “It’s very hard, especially when you start out as a specialist, to decide where you are best focusing your time. These days, I try to do what I think is important and work where I am needed.”

A favourite in CPD circles, Leon used to be wary of public speaking but quite enjoys it now. “It’s a bit of a break in the normal routine, and it also gives the opportunity to refresh your own knowledge,” he says. “It keeps you contemporary with what you are doing and gives you the ability to share the experience that you have accumulated with people who are really eager to learn.”

The Hands-on Extraction course is always popular. “I think extractions, despite being such a fundamental part of dentistry, are taught in varying degrees to people as they go through training,” Leon says. “Some people get very good experience, and some people get limited experience. It is quite a threatening environment to learn extractions on real patients, so I think people enjoy the fact that they can practise, they can ask questions, they can get advice off a group of surgeons who have done countless of extractions and have made mistakes and know how to correct them and know how to predict them. This gives them an opportunity to retouch and reskill in that area.”

When it comes to his work, Leon says he enjoys problem solving and the more challenging cases.

“From a collegiate point of view, I really like that part of being a specialist is you always get to work in teams, whether it’s with another specialist or general dentist,” he adds. “I like those interactions with my colleagues, and I really enjoy that team environment because it’s a two-way street; you always learn things from other people.

“From a clinical perspective, you can do lots and lots of operations but the ones that really stand out are the operations that really have an impact on the patient’s quality of life,” he says. “They are the patients that I find the most rewarding. It can be something very simple or it can be very complex surgery, but if you improve the patient’s quality of life, you have done a good service and I enjoy that about my job.”

What is on the horizon for Dr Leon Smith? “I am quite settled at the moment,” he says. “I am happy with my private practice, and certainly happy at Royal Perth Hospital. I really feel part of the team there. I think there will be little changes in career but in terms of future plans, I want to do more with my three boys and activities outside of work with them.”