Smoothing the way

Recently, she decided to go private and add another string to her bow, offering cosmetic treatments which go beyond the usual teeth whitening that many dentists now offer.

Through her clinic, Enhance UK, Dr Sharma is offering muscle relaxant therapy, more usually known by its brand name, Botox, skin fillers (known as dermafillers) to smooth out wrinkles, Isolagen, an anti-wrinkle treatment, and chemical peels.

She can also use Botox to sort out the little problem of excessive sweating, and already had most of the qualifications needed.

She said: "You have to be licensed as a dentist, doctor or nurse to offer this type of treatment and I've always been interested in beauty and cosmetics.

"Many dentists go off and do root canal treatments, or implants. Instead of doing something else within dentistry, I decided to do this."

She undertook further training for each treatment and has been using Botox herself for about a year, since she noticed crow's feet appearing when she smiled.

Dr Sharma added: "I want to grow old gracefully I've always been conscious of the way I look and I'd like to make the most of myself as possible, if there are treatments available."

Botox, which is the deactivated form of the botulism toxin, works by disabling the impulse the brain sends to the muscle, telling it to squeeze. It is only suitable for people who do not already have lines.

The treatment has received a bad Press, partly because of images from the USA, where many celebrities using it seem to have lost the ability to express facial emotion.

Dr Sharma explained: "In America, they probably use double or more the dose of Botox that we use in this country.

"Ideally, what you'd like to do is weaken the impulse, rather than deactivate it completely, so you can still express yourself."

She wiggles her eyebrows as she speaks: "I can still frown, but I just don't frown as strongly."

For those who already have wrinkles, dermal fillers are the answer. They come in gel form and contain hyaluronic acid, which occurs naturally in the body.

"You just literally inject it in, wherever the line is, and you just puff it back up again," Dr Sharma said.

The effects are temporary and break down within the body. Botox treatments cost from £179 to £250, and last about three to four months, while dermal fillers, which last for six to nine months, cost between £250 and £300.

Dr Sharma's reasons for going private are mainly to do with having young children and a husband who works long hours as an importer.

She said: "With two people involved in full-on careers it's hard for the children. That is why I'm just taking a little bit of a step back."

Her list has been cut from 2,500 dental patients on the NHS to 300 private, although she will still treat the children of private patients on the NHS.

However, she has employed two new dentists to take over her NHS caseload.

She said: "It's important that my patients can choose. I'm not forcing anyone into anything.

"At the end of the day, if they don't want to stay with me, there is still somebody who will carry on seeing them here."

While at school, Dr Sharma had planned to be a pharmacist, but work experience put her off. It was a neighbour who suggested dentistry, saying it was a good, flexible career for women.

She said: "I would touch his feet now, I really would, because it's been a great profession for me.

"You have a lot of interaction with people and it's nice to be able to care for them and put them at their ease."

Dr Sharma has been offering the cosmetic treatments for about two months and has had quite a few patients try the different services.

At the moment, she fits the treatments around everything else, seeing it as a sideline to build up slowly while her children are young.

Eventually, she hopes to offer the treatments two days a week, while continuing to work as a dentist for the other two.

"I'm never going to stop being a dentist, I love it too much. This is not a replacement for me. This is an enhancement," she said.

Contact: www.enhance-uk.com