KOCHI: They are both entrepreneurs and dentists and have zest for anything innovative. The couple, Dr Thomas K. Paulose Nechupadam and Dr Nithia Sara Thomas, do not confine their activities to their dental clinic-- Dr Nechupadam Dental Clinic-- at Marine Drive here. They are into corporate grooming, appearance facelift and also organic farming and run three companies together. These are Metanoeo, which means ‘understand and change,’ Sevents Consultants Private Limited and Nechupadam Dairy Farms Private Limited.
Metanoeo is the corporate grooming company and Dr Thomas is its CEO while Dr Nithia is the chairperson of the dairy farm. Metanoeo grooms people in etiquettes, dressing and appearance. Dr Thomas has also been the sub-title committee chairman of beauty contests like Miss Queen of India, Miss South India and Miss Asia. Miss Beautiful Smile is the category he used to judge in these contests. The contestants are also taught by them how to smile, how to pose for photographs, how their facial appearance should be on the ramp and what accessories suit one’s stature.
“We also train those going abroad in how to present themselves in meetings there considering the profiles of the guest and host companies and other things, what are the etiquettes there and what are misunderstood there like a black suit in Europe. We help people in power dressing also,” says Dr Thomas, an orthodontist.
In their profession of dentistry, the untrodden path that they have taken is in dental tourism with aesthetic and other dental treatments which both the state and central governments have failed to tap. “There is a huge cost difference between the dental treatment here and in the Gulf, Europe, US and places like Australia. It is almost ten times less even when we include travel and stay expenses. We can make a huge draw from this sector.
Philippines and Malaysia have already realised this potential of dental tourism,” says Dr Thomas who with his wife has already treated patients from 35 countries in a span of eight years. They are now hosting two women from Australia who are learning dance at the Mamangam school run by actor Rima Kallingal while undergoing dental treatment.
“The specialty with dental tourism is that the patients can move out while undergoing treatment unlike in allopathy or ayurveda treatment where the patients will be hospitalised. We offer different tour and other packages through our website and the patients who undergo treatment in our clinic are our best ambassadors,” says Dr Nithia and adds their catch-line for the tourists is ‘Take home a smile’. The testimonies of the tourists are hosted on YouTube while reviews are posted in Google for promotion.
Dr Nithia loves cooking and fashion designing and while Dr Thomas loves experimenting on innovation and listening to new ideas during his spare time. Both owe their success in life to their firm belief in God. They prefer short tours as they cannot be away for long from their profession and business. They have three children—Nissi, 8, Nidhi, 6, and Noah,4 . Dr Thomas’ father Dr K.T. Paulose also is a dental surgeon who runs a clinic at their native place Kolencherry.
All his four children are dental surgeons and there are altogether eight dentists in the family, including sons and daughters-in-law. One son-in-law is a pulmonologist. It is 16 years since Dr Thomas started practice while Dr Nithia turned to the profession after marriage eight years ago. They say that being together in the same profession is an advantage. “If one is absent, the other can take care of the patient and the patent has a special trust when the wife/husband takes over rather than a stranger,” says Dr Thomas.
Sevents Consultants run by the couple conducts weddings, corporate events and brandings. They are of the opinion that Keralites focus more on curative dental treatment while there is less stress on preventive dental treatment.
