First Person: I am Dr Amelia Judson, and I’m a dentist and former DJ

I was 12 when I decided that dentistry was for me. I grew up in a little New South Wales country town called Bogan Gate where my family had lived for over 100 years and there wasn’t a lot of access to services. It was a six-week wait to see a doctor or dentist, and I was fascinated every time – I never had a bad experience. I can understand how people are traumatised by it, though.

I studied dentistry in Orange. Going to a rural university was really interesting, because there’s a lot of hands-on experience. It was also a good representation of what the situation is like in the country. I saw lots of people suffering from methamphetamine addiction, and I saw exactly how much it obliterates the mouth.

I DJ’ed my way through uni. I’d always played musical instruments but I was bad at keeping tempo. I started out in pubs and worked my way up. My biggest goal was to play at Future Sound Festival, and I played there on my 20th birthday. People often ask if I miss being a DJ, but the club scene isn’t for me.

My niche areas these days are cosmetic dentistry and facial aesthetics. You get a lot of different personalities in dentistry, and each personality has its strengths. You have these people who are very detail oriented and do PhDs as a hobby. I am not one of those. I really like being hands-on, and I like getting to the bottom of what the patient wants.

Sometimes something as simple as giving a patient a denture makes a big difference. How the world perceives you and how you perceive yourself has a big impact on your psyche.

It’s a mentally demanding job, but physically you do get tired, too. People say, “Oh, you sit there all day”, but it’s actually back-breaking in the sense that you have to have good posture and you end up in some awkward positions. I’m always impressed when I’m able to do four extractions in a pair of heels, though.

I have quite crowded teeth down the bottom, but I don’t really show them when I smile. I could change them, but I like the character it adds. There’s beauty in difference.

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