Afterwards, I then spent the next two years working, paying off my student loan, completed an NVQ level 3 in dental nursing and applied to all three London schools for dental hygiene and therapy. Asmeen Hossenboccus and Moniba Khan explain the story behind their book, Sam’s Dental Adventure, and how they hope it will be a key tool for parents, guardians and teachers. Please tell us about you and your journey into dentistry Outside of dentistry I love reading, writing and I’m currently doing a master’s in business administration (MBA). I love what I do and making people smile is my passion! Our book will be a great tool to help parents, guardians and teachers to educate children about visiting the dentist and dental hygienist. I first typed up the script, then came across a great publishing company and illustrator, then soon enough we were underway.

I then threw myself right into my studies as a young kid. When I reflect on my own kid-self I had so much drive, motivation and passion to succeed and it was a long and hard journey towards dentistry.We want the book to be accessible to and benefit every child. Therefore, we are working hard to get it out there on a national and international level. Any plans for the future? Our aim is to rid any feelings of anxiety around visiting the dentist/hygienist by making children acquainted with the experience from an early age. For our future plans, we would also love to visit refugee camps to promote OHI as well as provide more emergency dental care and use our book as a resource for the children. We want to get the book out there to benefit the world. We’ve been engaging in talks to provide our wonderful book to hospitals, schools, nurseries and dental practices. Initially we want attend schools around the UK and promote OHI to children.

Asmeen: I’ve always been a high achiever and extremely ambitious. At school I was head girl for five years, set up a charity and got straight As in my GCSEs.

I was also an army cadet for three years and climbed the ranks to sergeant. After school I did a biomedical science BSc (hons) degree at Kings College London and it was the oral biology module that first sparked my interest in dentistry.