Rep profile Getting to know you...
Coltene’s Scotland and Northern Ireland territory manager Helen Wilson tells us about her life and career
Where are you from originally? Inverkeithing in Fife.
What did you do before you got into dental nursing? I left school to be an electronic technician and I did this until I was made redundant in ı990. I wanted a change of career and a job vacancy in the local paper for a trainee dental nurse caught my eye. I applied for the vacancy and the post happened to be with a dentist just five minutes’ walking distance from where I lived. I was offered the job and started my training in November ı99ı and qualified ı993.
Describe your journey from dental nurse to dental rep I worked as a dental nurse in practice for seven years and then a year with community dental service. After that, I took time out
of dentistry to open up my own sunbed/beauty salon, which I ran from 2002 to 2005. However, the business started to struggle in the second year, so I decided to find a job with more security to help support the salon. I was successful in getting back into dental nursing and, with help from family and friends, I worked full-time in dentistry and part-time in the salon. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be with the salon and I made the decision to close it down in December 2005. Having had experience in
the retail sector and enjoying the selling aspects of the busi- ness and in the dental practice, I was then smitten with the idea of being a sales rep. My
first job in this field was with VOCO GmbH. I worked with VOCO from June 2006 to June 20ıı, when I was approached by Coltene to see if I was interested in joining its team. Coltene is a much more established company in the UK, so I jumped at the opportunity.
What is the best thing about your job? As I am out on the road, one of the best things about my job is that I am in control of my own destiny. With input from my colleagues, I have the freedom to plan my days and organise my schedule as I see fit. However, Coltene works as
one big family and everything we do is as a team.
Describe a typical day for you on the road A typical day for me involves contacting dentists to get appointments and following up on leads. On any given day, I could be up in Perthshire or down in the central belt. I will usually work by postcode areas, so I will visit every practice in one postcode and, depending on the number of practices, I might move over to the next one and try to get in to see as many dentists as possible.
What sets Coltene apart? Well, this is Coltene’s 50th anniversary (the company was founded in November ı963 in St Gallen, Switzerland) and it has grown from a local chemical business into a global dental company. The company pioneered
the development of white fillings to replace amalgam and has a strong reputation for the research and devel- opment of its products. We have production facilities in Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Brazil and the USA, and we are now distrib- uting to the growth markets of China, India and Brazil. A little closer to home, I
regularly do workshops and ‘lunch and learns’ on Smile to Go featuring Componeer, our innovative and easy direct composite veneer system. I love this element of my job as
it allows me to get hands on and showcase this great system direct to dentists.
What are your hopes for the future? I’m looking forward to my future work with Coltene and helping it carry on being an amazing company and a leading manufacturer. Coltene is a great company
to work for. I have great support from my colleagues down south and in Switzerland, and I have the freedom to work the way I want to work and plan my time accordingly.
Scottish Dental magazine 25
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