Having Grit in Veterinary Medicine with Dr Crystal Loh
Dr Crystal Loh, BSc Hons, DVM MANZCVS, DAVDC – Companion Animal Dental Specialist
Have you ever felt like you’re stuck at the bottom of an insurmountable mountain or in a valley with no way out?
How do you maintain that initial sense of wonder you first had when you started your veterinary career?
In this inspiring and openly honest episode, we continue our conversation with Dr Crystal Loh, one of New Zealand’s three companion animal dental specialists, as she shares the trials and tribulations she faced on her path to specialisation and how she used grit to commit and continue.
Having grit in veterinary medicine
Dr. Crystal Loh has an impressive resume that includes being a Member of the Australian NZ College of Veterinary Surgeons – Small Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery – and a Diplomate of the American Dental Veterinary College.
Her credentials are an impressive mouthful: BSc Hons, DVM MANZCVS, DAVDC – and I got to chat with her – twas a bit of a fan-girl moment!
After graduating as a veterinarian in Canada, she completed a one-year internship at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in the US before moving to Godzone, Aotearoa, New Zealand. Dr Loh spent 10 years working as a GP before starting down the road of being boarded.
In 2016, she acquired memberships through the Australian & New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Small Animal Dentistry & Oral Surgery. From here, she embarked on a full time dental residency and in 2022 successfully completed her written and practical board examinations, based in the USA. She thus satisfied all the requirements to become accepted as a diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College.
Dr Loh has lectured and spoken across New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
This is the second of two chats with Dr Crystal Loh – if you haven’t listened to last week, I recommend you do that because she talks about some of her most interesting dentistry cases and what lead her from wanting to be an equine veterinarian to being a small animal dentist.
We continue the conversation today where I ask Dr Loh about some of the personal self-discoveries she made along the path to boarded specialist.
Dr Crystal Loh discusses:
- the importance of having grit in veterinary medicine
- the need for forgiveness – of self and others
- how she uses wonder to keep her life balanced
Dr Crystal Loh, one of New Zealand’s three companion animal dental specialists, shares her journey towards becoming a Specialist and offers valuable advice for anyone on a similar path.
Contact Dr Crystal Loh – NZ Vet Dentistry
You can find out more about Dr Crystal Loh by visiting her website: NZ Vet Dentistry.
NZ Vet Dentistry’s Facebook Page
For Dentistry CPD information at Practical Dentistry for Veterinarians – where Dr Crystal Loh runs CPD workshops from time to time – there’s an option for you to join her CPD workshops.
Further Listening / Reading
