Dental News - Post-FIFA: Heimir Hallgrímsson to return to his dental chair

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 25. July 2018

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HEIMAEY, Iceland: Heimir Hallgrímsson has decided to dedicate himself solely to his dental patients again. After seven years as head coach of the Iceland men’s national football team, he has resigned. During the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, the Icelandic team was knocked out in the group stage. However, Hallgrímsson remains the only coach who has ever led the Icelandic team to a World Cup. The trained dentist will now return to work in his dental practice in his home town of Vestmannaeyjar on Heimaey island.

Except for six years of attending Reykjavik University, Hallgrímsson has spent his entire life on Heimaey, a 13 km² island south of Iceland’s coast. In such a small community, the job selection is limited. After high school, Hallgrímsson decided to study computer science to become a software engineer, but his life plan later changed. In an interview with the New York Times, Hallgrímsson said, “My friend was doing dentistry and I thought I would just sign up with him and change later,” he said. “And I never did.”

Hallgrímsson’s patients have praised his skills as a dental professional for various reasons, including that he always explains exactly what kind of treatment he is going to apply, putting patients at ease. “He’s always smiling, really professional and really good at what he does,” Vedis Gudmundsdottir, who has been Hallgrímsson’s patient for a long time, told the paper.

For Hallgrímsson, returning to his dental practice, which is located on the ground floor of his house, is truly a homecoming. Speaking to Time, he said: “You know the world of football coaches, where you wake up tomorrow and don’t have a job? Don’t apply to me.”

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