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If you’ve ever spent your Monday morning commute thinking about restarting your career, this feature is for you. At the beginning of each week we talk to someone from a different profession to discover what it’s really like. Today we talk to James Davies, an orthodontist at Quayside Orthodontics in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire …

People think my job is… something he wouldn’t want to do. Looking in people’s mouths all day!

What I would tell them is… It’s better than working with smelly feet.

One thing I would change about the industry is… The NHS contract. Dentists used to get paid for what they did, now they get paid per treatment. In short, if you make a filling or 20, you get the same. This discourages treating those in high need unless the dentist becomes a charity. What we have seen in the last 20 years is privatization by stealth. Make the NHS contract so difficult to undertake profitably that dentists vote with their feet – then the government can blame the “greedy dentist”.

Being able to build rapport quickly is vital… Working in people’s mouths is an intrusive process, so being able to reduce anxieties and tensions over difficult, potentially painful procedures is essential. Communication is the most important skill – manual dexterity is a close second.

Each dentist will have a small number of patients…Who would happily pay to go somewhere else.

The biggest mistake I made with a patient was… it’s a miscommunication. An older lady entered the practice and I asked her “when is it due”. To my embarrassment she replied “I had the baby 12 weeks ago”. Pure!

Aiming to completely transform a patient’s life… He who has completed his course of treatment is the most rewarding. Often in orthodontics, patients walk around without smiling and with low self-esteem. They can come out raving and overflowing with positivity in their new lives. I personally find treating teenagers incredibly rewarding, they have many dreams and aspirations and they help keep me young.

Often our hands are tied… through NHS regulation. There are so many dentists out there to improve people’s smiles, but there is an overly complex set of rules for what constitutes NHS and private (cosmetic) treatment.

A practice I worked at was bought by a multinational… And I was left working for a company that put profits over patient care and treated everyone like a number. On the positive flip side, it motivated me to set up my own practice to be everything they weren’t, and it was a runaway success. Kindness and personal touch cost nothing!

Salaries start from… £38,000 in the first year, rising to around £100,000 in the fifth year. With a major you can earn over £150,000.

There is a huge amount of freedom to pick and choose your work schedule… Because most dentists are self-employed and contracted to a practice. I have always worked four days a week, which gives me a day to pursue other interests, be it DIY, Gardening or Learning Welsh.

My day starts at… Around 8am with a bowl of cornflakes (something I think is underrated). I always buy a newspaper I on the way to work and see my first patient by 9am. I tend to see 25 patients a day and try to fit in a 5km run at lunchtime twice a week. My evenings are spent shuttling my kids to various activities before retiring at 10pm.

When you look into someone’s mouth… The mind wonders. I think about things going on in the family, ambitions/dreams and how to strive to be a better person.

Dentistry in the UK is a five-year course… To earn a Bachelor of Dental Science from one of 16 dental schools. It is usually an undergraduate degree, although graduate entry is available from Aberdeen and Preston. After graduation, enter a dental foundation program within the NHS. This currently pays out £38,472 a year. Most dentists can expect to earn around £60,000 to £100,000 in future years. There are 13 specialties in dentistry that dentists can choose to study and gain postgraduate qualifications. I undertook a career in orthodontics, which required a three-year post-graduate degree.

I would hope to retire to… 60. I am lucky enough to have an NHS pension – a defined benefit pension scheme underwritten by the government. For a dentist joining today, you will need to be 67 years old. If I’m enjoying myself, which I hope I still am, I’d happily work two days a week as much as I can or am allowed to!

If I had my time again, I would… I slowed down and lived my life at a jog rather than a sprint. I would have worried less about the future and enjoyed the journey more than the destination.