Audley Dental Solutions was officially opened last week by Chris Wood in Stratton Audley, near Bicester, Oxfordshire. Dr Wood has invested in converting a barn in Stratton Audley into a modern dental surgery to offer patients a broader service. He has also invested in the latest technology and kitted out his new practice with state-of-the-art equipment. It includes a Dental CT scanner which delivers 3D X-ray imagining conjunction with advanced computer technology.

After 16 years trading as Chris Wood Dental Implant Solutions in Buckinghamshire, the surgery re-branded and moved to Oxfordshire. The new surgery marked its opening with a special event for dental professionals to showcase the new service offering.

Dr Wood said: “Our company culture has always been to provide high levels of expertise and service, with compassion and care. But our vision was to keeping growing as a business and bring more specialists into the team to enable us to provide a better service to our patients. We are delighted to have moved into Oxfordshire and look forward to serving many patients in the county.”

Audley Dental Solutions offers a range of services including dental implants, same day dental implants, Prosthodontics, Endodontics and Periodontics. Dr Wood has recruited Endodontics specialist Dr Amar Mehta, Periodontist specialist Dr Pritesh Raval, prosthodontic specialist Dr Preeyan Patel, plus Dental Hygienist Kate Barker. The new specialists join Dr Wood and Dental Implant Surgeon Dr Martina Pirklova. With more than 30 years’ experience in dentistry Dr Wood, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, has placed more than 2,500 dental implants.

Dr Wood said: “Since starting, we’ve been passionate about giving people their smiles back. Now we have the facilities and expertise available to provide a broader range of dental solutions, giving even more people their dream smile, and allowing us to support a wider number of dental practitioners.”

Dr Wood opened his new surgery in Oxfordshire due to a growing demand for specialist dental services in the county and surrounding counties.

“We did some market research and established a lot of dentists needed more specialists to refer their patients to,” he said.

“So, we decided to create a hub of dental experts in one place that is outside the city and easy for people to visit. To have the variety of skills we offer in a rural setting is quite unique. By moving to our beautiful barn conversion, we not only created the space to expand our team, but we have also built an exceptional surgery that is very high-spec and modern. By renovating an old barn, it gave us a unique opportunity to design a very modern surgery, with the patient and our services in mind from the beginning and we’re very pleased with the result.

“We have created a surgery where from the moment a patient enter, they feel respected, safe, comfortable and valued. Our investment in the best technology on the market will also help us provide the best possible service to our patients.”

Dr Wood said improving his patients’ lives provides job satisfaction for the team.

“Implants really do change the quality of peoples’ lives,” he said. “We once fitted some implants for a retired police officer who had plastic dentures which kept moving in his mouth.

https://www.audleydentalsolutions.co.uk

Charlotte Gentry presents her first experiences as a newly qualified dentist.

Well… lets just say this first month in the working world has quite possibly been the most overwhelming, scary yet exciting month of my life so far. I’ve discussed many different things in my articles, however, they’ve all been from a students’ perspective. We learned in a hospital environment, where time and resources aren’t really relative to the life of a general dental practitioner. This first month really has been a learning curve.

Walking into my surgery on the first day, I was beyond excited to get going and start being the ‘hero’ dentist I had always aspired to be. I think we all have a vision of the type of dentist we want to be – we all want to be liked, we all want patients to be queuing at the door to see us and we want to do everything perfectly. It soon struck me that in reality this is so much harder to achieve than I thought.

I had the small advantage of working in general practice in other roles for the past six years, so many of the policies, computer software and workings of a GDP were familiar to me. This helped me hugely as it wasn’t all completely alien to me. There is so much I want to talk about, but today, I’ll give a brief outline of how my first few weeks have gone.

Firstly, the issue of time. I appreciate that we as foundation dentists are still relatively sheltered, however the shock to the system of real time pressures has been hard. In comparison to my colleagues, I have been pushed a little harder with my times. Although I have managed my time well so far (it’s still early days!), seeing that little stick man waiting for me in the corner of my computer is stressful! I’ve learnt it’s about being efficient with time, asking as much of the patient’s history as possible whilst washing my hands, giving oral hygiene, diet and alcohol advice, and smoking cessation while radiographs are being processed. However, I still wonder when my time is cut further, how on earth it is humanly possible to be as thorough as I am being now?

Secondly, the patients. Dental student life was very sheltered. Our patients went through screening programmes before actually sitting in our dental chair – they were deemed ‘appropriate’ for students. They were all (pretty much) very friendly, very patient and absolutely loved coming to see us. Of course, I knew the reality would be very different, but I never thought I would have to really try hard to get patients to like me. I always found communication, empathy and building relationships with people and patients a strength of mine – working as a general dentist has made this harder as the ‘you’re a scary dentist’ is an immediate barrier.

Thirdly, the responsibility. Not taking the job home has been the hardest thing for me. Questioning every decision, critiquing every single piece of treatment I do, lying in bed at night and thinking – did I do this right, did I miss that? It isn’t healthy and will hopefully be something I can overcome with time. However, with a world of dentistry where we are constantly bombarded with horror stories of litigation and GDC cases, its hard not to worry, especially while I’m so new and inexperienced.

Despite everything, I am enjoying the challenge each day brings and am looking forward to my future as a dentist, wherever that takes me.

A young woman who was driven to the brink of suicide because of a rare dental condition now has a new lease of life, thanks to one of the UK’s top dentists.

Twenty-year-old Fozia Jatani was bullied at school and underwent therapy and medication for depression because of her amelogenesis imperfecta. The condition is so rare that many of the dentists she saw didn’t recognise it – it means the enamel doesn’t form properly and can leave the sufferer not only having extremely discoloured teeth but also dealing with extreme sensitivity.

Fozia, originally from Brighton but currently studying public health at the University of Sunderland, said the transformation has changed her life. Thanks to multi award-winning Dr Ken Harris of Sunderland’s Riveredge Cosmetic Dentistry, Fozia has something to smile about – a perfect set of teeth.

“My teeth were always really brown and I used to get bullied at school by people asking me if I didn’t own a toothbrush,” said Fozia.

“Even school nurses thought I was a smoker because they were so brown. At the same time, I couldn’t eat anything cold or anything sweet because it caused me so much pain.”

A number of dentists tried to help Fozia but none of the treatments worked and instead the youngster retreated into her shell, not wanting to talk unless absolutely necessary and avoiding smiling whenever possible.

“I was so conscious and so upset about it that I ended up on antidepressants,” she said.                                                                                                                       

“I really was feeling suicidal, it was affecting my life so badly.”

When Fozia started university in Sunderland she decided to have one last attempt to find someone who could help.

“I couldn’t believe it when Dr Harris not only said he knew what it was but he could do something about it” she said.

Dr Harris initially sorted out the problem with Fozia’s decaying teeth, before combining porcelain crowns and composite bonding.

“It’s not only given me a new smile but it’s boosted my confidence. I was going to look for a career where I wouldn’t have to really deal with people but that’s all changed now” said Fozia.

The new look has also brought an unexpected bonus.

“I’ve got a new boyfriend, who said he’d noticed me because of my smile,” she said.

“And I can also now eat ice cream which I’ve never been able to do because it’s cold and sweet.

Dr Harris revealed that Fozia’s condition affects about 1 in 140,000 people.

“It does look as if people haven’t cared for their teeth but that is absolutely not the case,” he said.                                                                                                           

“Amelogenesis imperfecta is due to the malfunction of the proteins in the enamel and people afflicted with amelogenesis imperfecta may have teeth with abnormal colour, which could be yellow, brown or grey. The teeth also have a higher risk of a range of other dental problems.”

“We are delighted we’ve been able to help Fozia and that she’s pleased with the results.”

Award winning Dr Andrea Ubhi and leading implant surgeon, Dr Adam Glassford, released their new book, “The Essential Guide to Dental Implants – Learn Insider Secrets and Avoid Costly Mistakes.”

This no-nonsense guide is for both professionals and patients and has a full overview of the implant journey, and includes a surgeon’s perspective and patients’ stories. It not only shows the benefits of dental implants, but also covers the pitfalls that referring dentists and patients need to know, before going ahead.

“Did you know that the biting force of natural teeth is approximately 150-250 psi, and that this can drop to 5.6 psi with full dentures? No wonder some of our edentulous patients are struggling to maintain healthy nutrition and great health into old age. This is reducing the lifespan of patients, with some research suggesting by a shocking 9.8 years! Missing teeth is a massive epidemic that is having serious consequences on our nation’s health,” says Andrea.

“Every week we have patients who are overwhelmed at the positive change in their lives due to having missing teeth replaced with dental implants. Just this week, one patient said he couldn’t stop eating apples, as he’d not been able to eat them for decades! However, there are pitfalls and costly mistakes to be avoided for implants to be successful,” says Adam Glassford.

The Essential Guide to Dental Implants is available on Amazon and is suitable for both patients and professionals.

Henry Schein Dental have won an Employer Award at the Kent Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Employer Awards ceremony. The awards celebrate the support that employers give to people who require extra help entering the workforce, including young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Henry Schein Dental received this acknowledgement in recognition of the Supported Internship programme that it has established with Bradfields Academy, a local school catering for SEND youngsters mainly within the Medway area of Kent. Galvanised by the shocking statistic that only 6% of the current adult working population with SEND find employment, the scheme saw three students from Bradfields employed at Henry Schein’s Gillingham-based
warehouse in September 2018.

The students worked in the warehouse, spending time in different departments to gain experience and were supported throughout by an in-house job coach. They also spent one day off site working towards English and Maths GCSE qualifications. At the end of a successful year, two of the internees were offered full-time employment with Henry Schein, and four new students are interning with the company for what everyone hopes will be a second promising year.

The scheme was awarded ‘Exceptional’, the highest level in the Schools Support category of the Awards at an event held at Grosvenor Hall in Ashford and attended by outbound supervisor for operations at the Henry Schein warehouse, Ashley Doe, who said, “It’s fantastic to be recognised in this way. The instant success of our internship scheme has shown us just what is achievable, and we are looking forward to seeing our new group of interns flourish.”