Helen Bullingham, 44, is Oral Health Promotion Team Lead, Special Care Dentistry, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust in Brighton. Helen loves her job and shares a glimpse into her working day.

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I usually get up at 6:30 am. I live in a small village just outside of Horsham, West Sussex - I have always lived here (I never left). For breakfast I have Weetabix and a very strong tea. I sit on the sofa in my kitchen and tend to share the last bit of breakfast with the dog.

I have been married to Matt for 17 years and we have two children, Charlotte who is 17 and Rowan, 14.

I drive to work which is about 45 minutes away. I work 7.5 hours a day, four days a week (flexi).

I am a very hands-on team lead: I love the coalface work of chatting to people; I manage the day-to-day diary, KPIs [key performance indicators]; meet with the commissioners; order stock; ensure we keep up to date with the latest dental news; update our teams of clinics; meet with hostel managers and carry out care home training. We also do the annual British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD) epidemiology study.

We see a huge array of client groups; we don't particularly organise it a certain way - we book in the groups where we have availability.

I have been in post as team lead just under a year but have worked in the oral health promotion team for coming up 20 years. I was originally a dental nurse and still like to keep my hand in; I love the clinical side of working with our special needs patients. I also assist with the general anaesthetic list that we run at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital here in Brighton.

At school I wanted to study criminology and join the Police. However, I took a short-term post on the reception desk of my local dental practice before I was due to go to university. I was asked if I'd like to try dental nursing, and I loved it.

We see a lot of very vulnerable people and I can sometimes talk to them for half an hour about all sorts until we get onto teeth -that helps to gain their trust.

I completed my National Diploma in Dental Nursing in 1998 and a certificate in Oral Health Promotion two years later. I worked in the first dental practice for five years, mostly NHS, then moved to a private practice for two years, and then I saw an advert for an oral health promoter and I'm still here.

In my role I love chatting to people - my husband says I will chat to anyone about anything! Which is actually a great tool - we see a lot of very vulnerable people and I can sometimes talk to them for half an hour about all sorts until we get onto teeth -that helps to gain their trust. I enjoy going out and about. The one thing I didn't like about clinic work was being trapped between four walls.

We train a lot of care staff to look after their clients' teeth - sometimes they just don't want to get involved, they don't like to brush someone else's teeth or just don't see the point. It's rare, but it happens, which is a more challenging part of our work in oral health promotion.

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In my team, there is one other oral health promoter, Lucy; her role is very similar to mine, and we have admin support from Debbie.

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Our primary target groups are the homeless, travellers, people with additional needs, substance/alcohol misuse patients, elderly patients at day centres, children's centre nurseries, health visitors and school nurses. We supply toothbrushing packs for food banks and for refugee centres too.

For lunch, I like to try and have a sandwich with the rest of my dental colleagues as it's nice to keep in touch with them - oh and I often have a sneaky Kit Kat - but I do ensure I keep sugar to mealtimes.

It's often a jam-packed day and it is never dull; no two days are the same.

I usually get home at 5:15 pm. Outside work I like to bake, walk my dog and at the moment my daughter and I are in our village panto. I am the sugar plum fairy - I intend to keep the costume to remodel as a tooth fairy.

Weekends are usually at the side of a football pitch with my son or shopping with my daughter. We also like to eat out as a family when we can.

I'm careful with my family's oral health regimes, of course (to a degree). The only dental treatment my children have had is orthodontics. My husband is the chocoholic in our house - he is nagged regularly.

I usually go to bed about 10 pm.

This year we are visiting a family friend in Toronto in May and going to Boston whilst we are in the area.

I plan to carry on in the same workplace until I retire. I would absolutely recommend my career path to others. If you enjoy meeting people and are passionate about oral health improvement this is the job for you. I have never woken up and not wanted to go to work.

Interview by Kate Quinlan