BY MIKE TUA
DR. Angella Tahani just wanted to be a dentist – because during her High school days she observed a lot of Tikopians have a strong habit of chewing betel nut and since then, she wanted to set a benchmark to become the only first qualified dentist emerging from her most remote island of Tikopia in Temotu province.
She earnestly wanted to help to promote good dental health among her people and hope to help change their betel nut chewing lifestyle. For those reasons, it actually drives her to go into dentistry.
“Not only that but most of the cases reported with mouth cancer come from Tikopia mostly due to their heavy betel nut chewing habits and the way they kept the betel nut in their mouth for a longer period,” she said.
After graduating from the Fiji School of Medicine from 1988- to 1992 (five years), she returned back to the country with a Diploma in Dental Therapy.
“I returned home and worked for almost 11 years with the National Referral Hospital (NRH) (1993-1995) and Honiara City Council (1996-1998) and then back to NRH from (1999 to 2003)as a dental therapist,” she told Solomon Women.
Dr. Tahani started her formal primary education at Waimasi Primary school, Makira province from 1977 to 1982 and completed her form one to five secondary education at King George VI (KGVI) from 1983 to 1987.
She is currently the Honiara City Council (HCC) Dental Services, Chief Dental Officer at Mataniko Dental Clinic in New Chinatown. Her strong passion, qualification, and work commitment over the years gave her the opportunity to be designated as the Chief Dental Officer for Honiara City.
She now holds a Master in International Public Health from the University of Sydney, Australia, and a Bachelor in Dental Surgery, obtained from Fiji School of Medicine.
“I am very grateful for the way I am today.
“The training and mentoring that I actually came through and as a result, I actually hold a supervisory role here at the HCC dental services,” the 43-year old said.
She added that it does not come cheap, but through a lot of commitment, it paid off.
“I actually have to prove myself that I am actually capable of holding a leadership role, it’s challenging but I worked hard to be here. The training I have undergone qualifies me to be here. If I don’t take the training needed, I think I would not be here to hold such a post.”
She took up the top post from 2011 to 2015. Dr. Tahani now resides in Nukukaisi, Makira province but is ethically from Tikopia in Temotu province.
She is married to Donald Tahani from Makira and Malaita province. They currently have five children – three boys and two girls. She strongly values her career although many people might not perceive dentistry as their lifetime profession.
“I personally value myself as a dentist, being a dental practitioner primarily involves oral health and I value it a lot, knowing that a lot of people might not want to be in this career, but I think it depends on how people see the importance of oral health.
“But I think most people would probably not value working in the area but I actually do value my teeth and love the current job I am doing now,” she said.
She also expressed some of her greatest professional successes and biggest setbacks in her career.
“Well, obviously the biggest success and achievement for me was getting an international postgraduate qualification in international public health and being conferred with a master’s degree.
“The biggest setback I have come across in my career was probably being looked at as a female and perhaps seen as inferior because I am a female and not be encouraged to be in a leadership position.
“Hopefully this kind of mindset would be changed one day. I believe women with leadership potentials and capabilities can be allowed to become a leader,” she added.
Though there are more male dentists compared to female dentists in the country, however majority of dental staff in clinics and hospitals are female.
Dr. Tahani said the greatest inspiration in her career comes from the leadership challenges her female supervisory colleagues faced over the years.
“There are lots of people I have crossed paths with but I would say my immediate female supervisors, I have seen they faced a lot of challenges in the areas of leadership. That inspired and challenged me to be a leader as well.
“I give my biggest gratitude to the Global Child Dental Fund (GCDF) for actually training me in the Senior Dental Leadership (SDL) and also my husband who encouraged me that I can do it as well,” she added.
As a female dentist in a leadership role, she believes a lot of women at home and in villages have leadership potential and capacity.
“I want to say something to women, the predominant mentality [mindset], women are meant to be in the house or kitchen is still strong and found there, but we need to break that kind of thinking and know that each woman has her own potential as well.
“A lot of women have the leadership capacity and potential and where ever we are, we can make a difference by being a leader in our homes and villages.”
The mother of five said that her daily responsibilities as a Chief Dental Officer are primarily to supervise the staff of the HCC Dental Services.
“I supervise them and manage the dental services provided here. Although I am the supervisor, I am also part of the team to provide dental services in clinics and in communities.
“I don’t only give commands and orders but I actually get involved as well. So that I could actually inspire my staff, to work and see that I worked as well,” she added.
Being a dental practitioner demands a lot of tolerance and expertise on the daily basis and sometimes it can be very challenging.
“My job demands a lot of patience and caring [to show my staff that I care as well], professionalism and I tried to be friendly with my staff even though we face challenges.
“However, most times I tried to be friendly with my staff so that they are not afraid of me,” she giggled.
As a manager, the most enjoyable part of her work is when promoting her staff and the most stressful is when her staff doesn’t turn up for work.
“Firstly, I get happy when I get appraised and when I get to promote my staff. I feel that there is an achievement and on top of that, when I get to achieve teamwork, to me that’s the biggest achievement and I want to see it happen in a workplace.
“But the greatest stress is when people don’t turn up for work without any reason when my staff gets absent without explanations at all or high absenteeism. This is quite common here. People are not used to working every day so it is quite hard,” she stressed.
She believed the major additional challenge when performing her role is in the bureaucracy of the health system of the country.
“There is a major stumbling block within the country’s health system – the lack of resources we face and the lack of priority given to oral health.
“My bachelor’s study in dentistry is seen as only a small (minor) aspect of health that is equally important to the other parts of the body as well.
“Helping people achieve good oral health is my strongest ambition in dentistry. I love making and saving people’s smiles because if they won’t have teeth they won’t smile or go to work, therefore, I still hold it close to my heart as well.
“I’ve done my Master’s degree in International Public Health. My study actually deals with public health problems in poorly-resourced countries.
“In poorly-resourced countries, there are a lot of challenges, particularly with the poor resources and the capacity to perform with very limited resources. My training has helped me try to work on these areas and identify populations in the country that actually don’t receive health at all,” Dr. Tahani said.
Her best advice for students wanting to take up further studies and pursue a career in dentistry must develop a strong passion for it.
“Working in dentistry is not a highly paid job here in the Solomon Islands but if you have to get a career in dentistry, you just have to love the job and love whatever you are doing and must love serving your people as well.
“To save somebody’s smile can put a lot of confidence in a person because they will have a good self-esteem and good [clean] smile with their white teeth, so you have got to love that thinking so that you can become a dentist as well,” she said.
When asked how she would describe herself, she laughed and said, “I am probably strong in my leadership, being able to express myself [when things have to be said, I can say it] and opinions and at the same time I am friendly as well.”
