Month: February 2019

The Dental Awards 2019 finalists announced!

The finalists for the eagerly anticipated 2019 Dental Awards have finally been revealed, after months of deliberation. 

The high volume of entries from dentists, therapists, hygienists, practices, nurses and dental teams lends itself to the immense talent and skill within the profession, as well as the high esteem in which the Dental Awards is held.

Each category is judged by  a panel of leading dental experts and key opinion leaders within their respective field, representing a broad range of disciplines and dental associations.

This year is significant for the Dental Awards, as 2019 proudly marks the 20th anniversary of this prestigious event that for many years has sought to recognise the outstanding individuals and teams whose dedication and drive continues to raise standards throughout the UK dentistry profession.

The Dental Awards is considered throughout the industry to be the most original and respected awards programme in UK dentistry. It includes a Gala dinner – a black tie event that attracts numerous dental teams and exhibitors from the Dentistry Show, who wish to delight in an evening of music, dining, entertainment and networking opportunities. 

Winning or becoming a finalist in the Dental Awards is a tremendous accolade that provides a significant boost to the profile of a practice. Not only is the event an opportunity to share in the happiness and success of those who win an award, but it offers the chance to see what fellow dental professionals are doing within their practice.

See the finalists here

The Dental Awards take place on May 17th at The Hilton Metropole N.E.C. alongside the leading UK dental trade exhibition and conference: The Dentistry Show. To purchase tickets contact Linda Aitken on 01732 371570, or email linda.aitken@purplems.com

Maximum oiling, minimal consumption

Improve the efficacy of handpiece maintenance procedures with the innovative Assistina TWIN from leading manufacturer, W&H.

As the first reprocessing device to feature a dual chamber design, the Assistina TWIN enables practitioners to alternate instruments for non-stop loading. It is designed to reprocess each handpiece to a consistently high standard within just 10 seconds, facilitating more efficient decontamination processes.

The Assistina TWIN uses oil nebulisation technology to disperse a fine oil mist at high pressure. This ensures safe and effective removal of any harmful contaminants, whilst also ensuring consistent lubrication of handpieces.

Contact W&H to benefit from maximum oiling with minimal consumption.

To find out more visit www.wh.com/en_uk, call 01727 874990 or email office.uk@wh.com

It’s all about ease of use

Very easy to use,[i] with easy mixing and handling properties,[ii] RelyX Ultimate adhesive resin cement from 3M Oral Care is ideal for practitioners looking for an easy life.

It requires fewer steps than alternative systems[iii] for a smooth and streamlined workflow that reduces the risk of operator failure.[iv] It is also easy to extrude[v] and allows for easy removal of excess material.[vi]

In addition, RelyX Ultimate cement offers high aesthetics thanks to its marginal integrity, fluorescence and colour stability.[vii]

For all this, plus the benefit of less time needed to pre-heat when used in conjunction with Scotchbond Universal adhesive, discover why you should be using RelyX Ultimate cement from 3M Oral Care today.

For more information, call 0800 626 578 or visit www.3M.co.uk/Dental 

3M, Scotchbond and RelyX are trademarks of the 3M Company

 

[i] 3M Oral Care Internal Data. RelyX Ultimate: Easy to use. Claim 5471 (2012)

[ii] 3M Oral Care Internal Data. RelyX Ultimate: Easy to use. Claim 5496 (2012)

[iii] 3M Oral Care Internal Data. RelyX Ultimate fewer working steps. Claim no. 5510 (2012)

[iv] 3M Oral Care Internal Data. RelyX Ultimate reduced operator failure. Claim no. 5104 (2012)

[v] 3M Oral Care Internal Data. RelyX Ultimate easy to extrude, 2012. Claim no. 5469 (2012)

[vi] 3M Oral Care Internal Data. RelyX Ultimate easy excess removal. Claim no. 5473 (2012)

[vii] 3M Oral Care Internal Data. RelyX Ultimate aesthetics. Claim no. 4928 (2012)

A voice for dental providers

The Association of Dental Groups (ADG) promotes high quality dentistry throughout its membership of dental providers. It also utilises its collective knowledge and expertise to drive change and support government decisions for the ultimate benefit of patients and all dental practices in the UK.

Neil Lloyd, CEO of Dental Partners, commented:

“Dental Partners joined the ADG to have a greater voice as the profession goes through a period of intense change – for example with the new potential contract and Brexit. The ADG meetings have been a great source of information and advice on a wide range of topics affecting the dental profession and corporate dentistry in particular.”

For more information about the ADG visit www.dentalgroups.co.uk

Mental health: BDA back HEE calls for action on stress and burnout in profession

The British Dental Association (BDA) has welcomed Health Education England’s recommendations for sweeping action on stress across health professions, and renewed its call for parity in provision between NHS dentists and GPs on occupational health. 

The NHS Staff and Learners’ Mental Wellbeing Commission report builds on studies conducted by the BDA and other health associations on the cost of burnout and mental health to staff and the wider health service.

Recommendations include the creation of an NHS Workforce Guardian for primary care settings, tackling problems from the very outset of education, and rapid referral pathways for both students and staff to either a GP or an occupational health clinician – dubbed ‘an NHS for the NHS’.

BDA research, recently published in the British Dental Journal, found that almost half of dentists say stress in their job is exceeding their ability to cope, and the most stressful aspects of their work are related to regulation and fear of litigation, and pressures. Researchers found high levels of stress and burnout amongst a survey of more than 2,000 UK dentists, amongst whom almost a fifth (17.6%) admitted they had seriously thought about committing suicide.

The BDA has called for funded access to the Practitioner Health Programme for NHS dentists across England on the same basis offered at present to GPs. The service provides a range of support and therapies for practitioners experiencing difficulties, and is currently only directly accessible for GDPs in London.

BDA Chair Mick Armstrong said:

“It is refreshing to see officials waking up to the weight of evidence on stress and burnout in this profession.

“The logic of this report is sound: no NHS dentist or dental student should suffer for the work they do for the NHS. Now we will need to see these principles joined with action.

“There are dentists out there in desperate need of support, and they deserve access to services currently offered to our medical colleagues. We know the drivers fuelling this epidemic of burnout – from regulation to the NHS treadmill – and we will need to see an approach founded on prevention, and not just cure.”

Practice Growth Workshops launched

This spring sees the launch of a series of Practice Growth Workshops, designed to offer principals, practice owners and managers knowledge and guidance around how to improve various non-clinical aspects of running a practice.

Hosted by Software of Excellence and Henry Schein Dental, who have teamed up with NBS Training; this series of intensive one-day courses will deliver seven hands-on workshops focusing on everything from communication techniques for leading the team and maximising treatment uptake, setting targets, digital workflow, customer success stories and more.

Each Practice Growth Workshop will begin with a session that answers the important question of what actually constitutes a successful practice and look further into the various actions that can be taken to encourage business growth for each individual practice.

Attendees will have the opportunity to see the newly launched Primescan™ from Dentsply Sirona and have a full demonstration and explanation of how this newest of dentistry’s intra oral scanners is set to revolutionise dental practice.

There will be an option of choosing from two areas for the remainder of the afternoon session, enabling delegates to delve deep into the tools that can help them move forward, depending on their personal needs, whilst providing tangible actions and tips to take away:

  • Going Digital, hosted by Henry Schein, this session will look at how the integration of digital technology can be used to drive business growth and provide better patient care. Interactive sessions will demonstrate how a variety of digital equipment works and explain how it can be integrated into everyday practice.
  • Setting Targets and Hands-on MPC (My Practice Cloud), hosted by SoE. MPC software is fully integrated with EXACT, allowing users to analyse and track the performance of their business using an online dashboard from anywhere, at any time.

The day will conclude with a session designed to help dentists and managers understand why communication is so important and then offer solutions to refine and enhance their skills in this area, building trust and improving education, patient care and increasing customer satisfaction.

Practice Growth Workshops will be held in 4 locations during March and May cost £95 + vat to attend. For more information, including dates and venues and to reserve a place, please visit https://softwareofexcellence.co.uk/soe-events/educational-workshops/ 

Attendance at any of the four Practice Growth Workshops entitles the attendee to a reduced price ticket for the Dental Innovation Symposium being held in June 2019. For more information visit www.dentalinnovation.co.uk

Reduce restorative failures

Tom Behaeghel, Technical Consultant for VITA Zahnfabrik North/West Europe, will be discussing “All-ceramic Restorations – A Complete Overview” in the DTS Lecture Theatre at the Dental Technology Showcase (DTS) 2019.

“I hope delegates will leave my session with a comprehensive overview of the different restorative materials currently available on the dental market. I hope they will gain an improved understanding of the key differences between the materials and how they can be utilised for the best results.

“Consequently, I believe they will be able to improve their work and reduce the risk of restorative failures.”

 

DTS 2019 – Friday 17th and Saturday 18th May – NEC in Birmingham, co-located with the British Dental Conference and Dentistry Show.

Visit www.the-dts.co.uk, call 020 7348 5270
or email dts@closerstillmedia.com

Professional Educators wanted in Sheffield – Waterpik®

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waterpik®is looking for independent professional educators in the Sheffield area. Ideal candidates are practising dental hygienists or dental therapists and strong oral health educators.

You should be:

  • Happy to arrange and initiate three-six informative lunch and learns per month at dental practices within the given territory
  • Confident to create lunch and learn presentations about the advantages of water flossing and to discuss the benefits of the Waterpik®product line.

If you have one-two weekdays free, at least three years clinical experience, computer skills, a valid driving licence and a car – apply now.

For more details or if you wish to apply, please send your CV to:

Charlotte.Gowers@churchdwight.com

For more information on Waterpik® please visit www.waterpik.co.uk.

 

 

 

The CQC vs. the NHS – a solicitor’s take on the current situation – Clare Emery Harrison Clark Rickerbys

Clare Emery, the head of the dental team at Harrison Clark Rickerbys, a solicitors firm that works closely with Dental Elite, offers a legal perspective on the situation…

Since the CQC announced that it is going to stop agreeing to register what it classifies as a ‘bridging partnership’, the practicality of transferring an NHS contract via the partnership route has become somewhat more difficult. More than anything else, however, it has shone a light on the tension between the CQC and NHS and the disjointed views that the profession currently faces when it comes to establishing a partnership. 

The problem stems from the fact that both the NHS and CQC interpret the provisions of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 differently, which says: “s10 (1) Any person who carries on a regulated activity without being registered under this Chapter in respect of the carrying on of that activity is guilty of an offence.”However, there’s no real explanation as to what is actually meant by “carrying out a regulated activity”, which in turn leaves the issue of whois doing it open to debate.

From the NHS’s point of view, anyone who is considered to be legally responsible for the work being carried out should be held accountable in the event that the contract is breached.Notwithstanding the different shares in which the partners share the capital and profits of the business, they would say that all of the partners are legally responsible to the NHS under the GDS contract, as well as being legally responsible to the patients to whom services are carried out.It is for that reason that they demand all partnerships must be registered. They’re not interested in how the workload is shared out – if there’s a problem they will go after all the partners.

The CQC on the other hand are much more interested in who exactly is carrying out the workload and practical evidence of this such as insurance policies, staff policies and so on. They argue that in the case of a bridging partnership where only the buyer will be physically carrying out the work, only the buyer (and not the partnership) needs to be registered.

Now, from a legal standpoint one could argue that this isn’t necessarily correct, because it doesn’t matter if a clinician works one day a week in clinical practice, five days a week or never, they are still liable to legal recourse from both patients and the NHS. That being said, I can see it from both points of view. I don’t completely disagree with the CQC in that you have to question whether an individual needs to be registered if they’re not actively involved in any clinical activity. However, I also appreciate the NHS’s stance, which is that anyone that is a contractor under an NHS contract must be registered with the CQC. Really, it should be the legal entity – i.e. the partnership – that bears the responsibility for ensuring CQC compliance, regardless of how much time is spent by each partner delivering clinical care.

In light of all this, both buyers and vendors will need to be more conscientious moving forward about where the legal responsibility lies if they want to satisfy both the CQC and NHS. This includes taking care to ensure that any activity under the NHS contract is legally being carried on by all of the named partners.

Extra consideration will also need to be given to dotting the Is and crossing the Ts when preparing all the relevant paperwork, as well as to any potential legal issues that could occur when setting up a partnership – such as arranging the lease. To get it right it is essential that buyers and vendors work closely with a specialist dental lawyer from the get go – and a sales and acquisitions agency that understands the minutiae of the process.

The same goes for all other aspects of the partnership process, particularly as tension between the CQC and NHS is unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future. All that can be done is to carry on business as usual and ensure that the right steps are taken to satisfy both the CQC and NHS.

 

For more information on Dental Elite visit www.dentalelite.co.uk, email info@dentalelite.co.ukor call 01788 545 900

 

DenkaFix your handpieces

Denka remains the only British, family-run dental supplier offering unlimited access to hundreds of dental products at competitive prices.

With a commitment to delivering great service with no gaps, Denka also offers guaranteed, handpiece repairs with a same-day turnaround.

As they always keep affordability in mind, the expert technicians at DenkaFix can loan handpieces out to you at no extra cost, while repairs are underway. This not only ensures faulty handpieces are returned to you in supreme working order, but also enables practices to avoid delays in the provision of high-quality treatment.

Get in touch with Denka for a no obligation quote.

 

For more information, visit www.denkauk.com, call on 0800 707 6212 or email: hello@denkauk.com