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I get up at 6 am to go for a 5 km power walk/jog/waddle. I'm not very good at eating breakfast but if and when I do it's porridge ... or a banana. I then drive to the practice, which takes about 20 minutes if the traffic conditions are good and 45 minutes if they aren't.

For about 30-35 hours a week I see patients booked for general dentistry and hygiene visits and I spend about 10-15 hours a week on admin/maintenance/general banging my head against a brick wall.

Sarveen Mann, 47, is principal at The Fulham Dentist, an all-female private dental practice in West London established half a century ago. Sarveen's husband works in banking IT and they have three sons: Armaan, 13, Roshan, 10, and Kaveer, 7 (they are pictured at the 2012 Mouth Cancer Awareness Walk).

The team

Our dental team at The Fulham Dentist, including our HR & Practice Manager Sunny who is also my sister-in-law (but she gets no special treatment – quite the opposite!), is all female through circumstance rather than through choice. A man could work at the practice, absolutely, although we may need to see how small his hands are.

'Our dental team at The Fulham Dentist is all female through circumstance rather than through choice. A man could work at the practice, absolutely, although we may need to see how small his hands are.'

The practice has been established for over 50 years. I started here as a vocational trainee in 1990, stayed on as an associate for 20 years, then the principal decided to sell and offered me first refusal. The rest is history!

I initially inherited the staff and since they moved on we have used Gumtree and various recruitment agencies; recently through the power of social media I have found people will contact me directly if they are looking for a job.

We try to have a meeting at lunchtime once a week in the practice when most team members are around, and then staff training days every couple of months. Rarely will you find a private independent practice where 9-5 are the only hours offered, I think, so we have different members of the team in at different times and on different days.

Brilliant chips

Lunch depends on how healthy and virtuous we are feeling; there is a Tesco Express around the corner, a Chinese, a Thai and a brilliant fish and chip shop, so it varies.

Loyal patients

As the practice has been established for so long we have a large loyal patient base, but since setting up our website and using social media I have found a large influx of new patients who seem to like what we are doing. I would say that our patients are mainly young professionals and young families.

I'm on Twitter (@FulhamDentist). I think it's a great forum to meet like-minded people, get opinions and advice and in fact it is the only place I keep up to date with what is going on in the world – sometimes before BBC News gets hold of it!

Bootcamp

Once or twice a week I attend a bootcamp-style exercise session run by our brilliant trainer Stuart Amory with a group of mums from my boys' school (incorporating a 5 km power walk almost every morning has been VERY recent!). Coffee and chit chat with friends is very important for my general well-being and to feel connected to real life. If I have any other spare time during the week I spend it shopping, cooking, doing chores, and picking the boys up and spending quality time with them.

Squeezing it in

On an average day I usually get home between 9 and 10 pm. It is all I can do to work, look after my family and keep reasonably fit and healthy – not to mention trying to squeeze in CQC stuff along the way!

At the practice we rarely have the chance to go out as a team and if we do it will be on the days we finish relatively early – Fridays and Saturdays.

At home in the evening we tend to work to a set menu during the week. So it may be salmon on Monday, pasta on Tuesday, spag bol on Wednesday. I will cook my 'famous' chicken curry on a Thursday (my boys love it) and maybe a meal out on a Friday. Weekends are spent at relatives' trying to get them to feed us!

No sweet tooth

My favourite food is anything that is cooked for me and although I don't mind cooking, I'm not passionate about it. I don't have a sweet tooth – well, only for chocolate!

To wind down in the evening I chat with my husband, read and occasionally there may be a TV programme worth watching. I go to bed between midnight and 1 am. I usually think about dentistry before I go to sleep – even if it is just reminding myself what I need to do work-wise the next day.

Interview by Kate Quinlan