By Dionne Meehan
ONE OF Donegal’s newest dentists, Eileen McGlinchey, is planning on bringing her skills back to the North West because of the shortage of dentists in the county.
The Ardara native, who has been studying dentistry in University College Cork since 2019, graduated last Friday.
Always aspiring to help those around her, in 2012 Eileen set up Smileyeileey’s Oral Health promotions after graduating as a dental nurse in 2011.
Visiting preschools, national schools and special needs schools while working as a dental nurse on the side, Eileen began teaching kids the importance of good oral health, but with some added fun along the way.
However, after five years of juggling both, in 2017 Eileen began teaching her workshop full-time all over Ireland.
Speaking to the Donegal News this week, Eileen said this spurred her on to return to education in 2019.
“The demand for my workshops got so great that I just did the workshops full time all over Ireland.
“The passion for furthering my education and perusing dentistry then came from that,” she said.
Now equipped with a further five years of study, Eileen has plans to continue her promotion of oral health in her home county of Donegal.
“I would like to bring my skills back to the North West as there is a shortage of dentists in Donegal,” she said.
With varying reasons for this, from Eileen’s experience, one of the main issues is the fact that the course is so hard to get into.
“The course is quite difficult to get in to, especially for Irish students.
“I think it is top marks that have to be achieved in the Leaving Cert for dentistry.
“As well too, a lot of people who graduate are emigrating,” she said.
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