From a very early age he felt attracted to handicrafts, he enjoyed tasks that meant paying attention to details, he made tools and played with them, set up and dismantled them, he loved reproducing figures in plastic. He had no doubt that in the future he would devote to something which implied manual skills and care for details.
It was at the age of 14 that Christian Lavelli started his professional career in the world of Odontology.
«I started my vocational training as a professional dental technician, which wasn’t necessary to get the dentistry qualification, as you usually access to this degree through higher secondary education (Bachillerato). Thanks to this school I learnt to work materials such as ceramics, to make dental plates and to acquire laboratory skills that often help me nowadays and allow me to explore my profession to the full, most of all my speciality: cosmetic and reconstructive dentistry. After hard study, I could enter the Univerdità Statale di Milano, and I got my Odontology Degree».

We interviewed Christian Lavelli, owner of the first dental surgery in Lajares, named after himself.

How did you get to Fuerteventura?
During my studies and my working life I never left my hobbies, the mountain, my origin, free-ride and ski; and the sea, my present, with waves and windsurf. I made a quick trip whenever I saw a chance: Australia, Northern Spain, Austria and, of course, Fuerteventura.
I took advantage of the job opportunities they offered me in public hospitals and private surgeries, in Italy and the Islands, and I even had my own surgery for a couple of years in my home town. But my mind was always in Fuerteventura, in its ocean and wind and the magic moments it gives me when I’m in the water.
So, in the end I moved in permanently and I had a chance to set up my own surgery in a place I already felt as my home, an idea I’d always had in mind.

What is your speciality as a dentist?
I’m a specialist in cosmetic and reconstructive dentistry, actually, in Italy I worked with internationally renowned specialists in cosmetic dentistry, referring doctors in the world of entertainment and fashion. I’m also a specialist in preventive and conservative dentistry: my priority is avoiding the need to remove, and to keep functional teeth that should be removed otherwise.
What I like best in my job is to see how my patients benefit from: PREVENTING, HEALING, PROTECTING AND CONTROLLING their own natural teeth.
In our surgery we pay special attention to healing and preventing the most common pathologies, like periodontitis; we also characterise for a customised attention regarding dental care, treatments and cosmetic dentistry, tailored to each patient’s needs.

Are there any keys to getting the prefect smile, basic care?
It’s easier than you think. A right dental hygiene is essential, brushing your teeth twice or three times a day for three minutes, using dental floss, getting regular dental check-ups every six months and giving up smoking, which spoils and darkens the natural colour or the dental enamel. White and well looked after teeth make you look younger!

The typical doubt, what’s better, manual or electric teeth-brush?
No doubt the electric one favours dental hygiene, but the same results can be achieved with a conventional teeth-brush. The most important thing is the tooth-brushing technique.

DR. CHRISTIAN LAVELLI’S DENTAL SURGERY
48, Coronel González del Hierro Street. Lajares. (+34) 928 861 526