Simplyhealth Professionals is about to start a series of in front seminars across England, Wales, and Scotland to highlight the current concerns amongst dentists working in the NHS and how they can plan for their future. Participants will debate NHS contract issues, dental provision, and the key issues affecting dentists working either in NHS or mixed practices.

The seminars have been created to help dentists learn more about NHS dental provision in Scotland, or NHS contract changes in the UK, hear the latest expert insights, and receive advice on what options they have for the future. They will take place throughout Scotland, England and Wales throughout May, June and July.

Dr Henry Clover, Director of Dental Policy at Simplyhealth Professionals, the host of the seminars, said: “Due to the uncertainty facing dentists working in the NHS, these evenings will give everyone a chance to talk to others with similar concerns, and learn what they can to do prepare for their future.”

The first seminar will take place on Tuesday 6 June in Newcastle from 6.00pm to 9.00pm and will include evening drinks and a buffet. All of the events are free and dentists who attend will earn 2 hours of CPD.

If NHS speculation leaves you uncertain about your future...

In Front Seminars:

Tuesday 6th June – Marriott Gosforth Park – Newcastle

Tuesday 13th June – AMEX Stadium – Brighton

Wednesday 14th June – Holiday Inn Bristol Filton – Bristol

Monday 26th June – Sandy Park – Exeter

Tuesday 27th June – Cambridge Belfry – Cambridge

Wednesday 28th June – Park Royal Hotel – Warrington

Monday 3rd July – Village Cardiff – Cardiff

Wednesday 5th July – Holiday Inn – Winchester

Thursday 6th July – Crowne Plaza London the City – London

Thursday 13th July – Leicester Marriott – Leicester

Monday 17th July – Thorpe Park Hotel – Leeds

Tuesday 18th July – Tankersley Manor – Sheffield

To reserve a place: www. denplan.co.uk/nhs-seminars or call 01962 828 026.

Hello all,

Today (17th May 2017) we will be delivering our 10,000th daily email digest to our GDPUK members. Something we are extremely proud of.

• Our first daily digest was sent out in 2008 when we built the first GDPUK website (pictured above).
• Barring one or two hiccups alomng the way.... We have sent out 3 daily digest emails a day since.
• The emails contain the latest news from the site, plus the top forum posts of the day. This keeps our members engaged with the site and more importantly, what is happening within UK Dentistry.
• The digest contains advertising banners from our partners, so thanks to all our loyal clients and friends over the last ten years who have made it possible to reach this milestone.
• In that time we have had 54 different people post over 1000 times on the forum pages. All that posting helped to create the unique content of the digests. So thanks to the 54 people and the thousands of other posters who have contributed to the site.
• Thanks also, to over 10,000 members of the dental profession who have signed up to the site since 2008.
• The GDPUK forum continues to thrive on a daily basis. The forum has had over 22,000 threads created and nearly 256,000 replies to those threads. That is 11.5 replies to every thread created. A lot of knowledge and content contained in our forum pages :)
• You have to be a member to view our forum and daily digests. Register for free here.

Thanks again for supporting and reading GDPUK.

We enjoyed an extremely busy couple of days at the Dentistry Show on Friday and Saturday in Birmingham. This year we didn’t have a stand, so we did a lot of walking, talking and listening of course…...

A few initial thoughts and products that caught the eye:-

The Full Picture

In a room of a few thousand people, it always intrigues me the different impressions people get from the show. “Fantastic show”, “our stand has been so busy” “selling loads of gear” and then you move about 3 feet to the next stand and the reaction is totally different “waste of time”, “not as busy as last year” “this part of the room isn’t getting any footfall” so when stepping back and looking at the full picture, I reckon it is somewhere in the middle. The show was certainly busy but it is not for everyone.

Takeaway - it is not always about following the crowd. This kind of show works for some companies but not all.

Closer Still

Closer Still Media, have built an amazing business, which is demonstrated by the fact that the show attracts a huge number of exhibitors, speakers and visitors. As you will know from previous blogs, GDPUK have not always had the best experience at the Dentistry Show but we must say that it has a great spirit, atmosphere and 2 days seems a perfect amount of time.

Well done to all the Dentistry Show team and the wider Closer Still Media team which is now over 200 people strong. They obviously understand the formula to produce extremely successful events.

Internet of Things

Last year we reported on Oral-B’s move into connected toothbrushes and now Philips have followed with the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart which not only is incredibly smart with its matt black handle, black brush head and charge in glass technology, it also uses connected technology to inspire and motivate patients to take better care of their oral health. I believe it will be available to consumers in the next few months. Great to see dentistry leading the way in connected devices and improving oral-health at the same time.

Good to Great

“Good to Great” is a journey to greater business prosperity for dentists, which has been underpinned in the last 12 months by the introduction of SoE’s Customer Success Programme. (Software of Excellence). The Good to Great Challenge encourages dentists to think more clearly about how they can optimise their performance and maximise revenue and provides a vehicle by which dentists can track and follow the progress of likeminded dental practices. More information available here - http://www.g2gchallenge.com/ 

Will be interesting to see how many practices get involved in this challenge and what affect it has on their practice over the 12 months.

Social

The show is great for networking which is demonstrated by the thousands of people attending and the huge queues at the Starbucks just outside hall 5! I really enjoyed this element of the show, fantastic to catch up with so many people from all areas of the profession.

A few other mentions and thoughts

• The Simply Health juice drinks were delicious and perfect after a few beers on the Friday evening. I am sure anyone who attended the Dental Awards or the Dental Circle party also found those drinks refreshing :)
• Prem at Quick Straight Teeth certainly caught the eye but I know this has been covered elsewhere on social media :)
• The dental industry certainly seemed positive overall, digital is growing. Innovation isn't always the quickest in dentistry compared to other sectors but some of the options and resources available to a dentist just starting their dental practice journey are endless.
• The 3M intraoral mobile tablet scanner is extremely clever and could be excellent for interaction with your patient. Info here.

Thanks for reading and hopefully see you at the BDA Conference in a couple of weeks. Get in touch if you would like to meet up or need some advice on the best restaurants in Manchester.

Simplyhealth Professionals has today announced a new personalised assessment for young patients which they are providing through their highly regarded Denplan PreViser Patient Assessment (DEPPA) application. Young DEPPA (YDEPPA) brings the benefits of comprehensive online patient assessment to young patients and their parents or carers for the first time.

The primary benefit of YDEPPA, like its adult counterpart, is to support communication with young patients about their oral health. YDEPPA reports offer personalised biofeedback in a patient friendly manner. Dentists can access YDEPPA from the main menu of DEPPA by selecting ‘Young Patients’.

The reports use a traffic light colour-code system of red, amber and green to indicate what is going well and what the patient needs to improve on with the help of their dental care provider. Smiley symbols enhance the colour-code effect for young patients. The reports clearly indicate if any aspects of oral health should be of particular concern to patients and their parents or carers. Prevention advice tailored to the age of the patient forms the second page of the report.

A young patient DEPPA report (patients under 17 years of age) comprises two key scoring elements:

• A composite score (YDEPPA score) out of 100 measures patient perception and current oral health status, including two risk factors for dental caries and one risk factor for dental erosion. There is no separate measurement or reporting of future disease risk in YDEPPA as at the present time the evidence base for future disease risk factors in young patients is not as developed as that for adults.
• A summary of patient overall care needs (Low, Moderate or High) which may be helpful in fee category guidance in Denplan Plans for Children.

Henry Clover, Director of Dental Policy at Simplyhealth Professionals, said: “There is evidence to support that personalised biofeedback, delivered using reports such as DEPPA for patients, is more likely to trigger the emotional response required in order that behaviour change can occur than traditional methods. The earlier that we can educate young patients on what they can do at home to support dental care plans, the better their oral health will be in the long term.”

On an individual patient basis YDEPPA supplies valuable guidance to inform the development of a care (treatment) plan. YDEPPA reports allow clinicians and patients to monitor the success of care plans over time.

YDEPPA is very quick to complete, comprising just 14 questions. Reports can be either printed in hard copy and given to patients, or e-mailed to them with consent.

YDEPPA protocols were developed using Adult DEPPA, the Oral Health Assessment (OHA) and The Oral Wellbeing Assessments (OWA) as the starting point. Both the OHA and the OWA were developed as part of Denplan Excel for Children. Stephen Fayle, Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry, Leeds, who guided the development of Denplan Excel for Children was a key adviser in the development of YDEPPA, as was Iain Chapple, Professor of Periodontology, University of Birmingham, and Liz Chapple, Managing Director of DEPPA service provider, Oral Health Innovations*.

Liz Chapple said: “This is a really exciting development as it is the first of its kind. YDEPPA is very simple to use, instantly producing a comprehensive assessment of a child’s oral health in an easy to understand format. If it achieves anything near the positive impact on behaviour that the adult version has achieved, its impact on prevention could be lifelong.”

Notes:

* Simply Health are also grateful to the many additional colleagues who provided advice during the development of the YDEPPA protocol for the Pilot Study. The Pilot Study was conducted in November 2016. A dozen practitioners who were prolific users of Adult DEPPA were recruited to take part. We used an on-line survey to elicit their feedback.

About Simplyhealth Professionals:

In February 2017, Denplan rebranded as Simplyhealth Professionals.

Dental

Simplyhealth Professionals is the UK’s leading dental payment plan specialist with more than 6,500 member dentists nationwide caring for approximately 1.7 million patients registered to a Denplan product.

Simplyhealth Professionals provides the following range of leading Denplan dental payment plans under the Denplan name:

·         Denplan Care: all routine and restorative care + worldwide dental injury and dental emergency cover

·         Denplan Essentials: routine care only + worldwide dental injury and dental emergency cover

·         Denplan for Children: routine and other agreed care + worldwide dental injury and dental emergency cover

·         Denplan Membership: registered with the dentist + worldwide dental injury and dental emergency cover

·         Denplan Hygiene: A dental payment plan without dental insurance for all types of practice from NHS, mixed and private to support patients commit to a consistent hygiene programme.

·         Denplan Emergency Insurance: worldwide dental injury and dental emergency cover only

Simplyhealth Professionals also provide a wide range of professional services for its member dentists and their practice teams, including the Denplan Quality Programme and Denplan Excel Accreditation Programme.  Plus regulatory advice, business and marketing consultancy services and networking opportunities.

Dentist enquiries telephone: 0800 169 9962.

For Patient enquiries telephone: 0800 401 402   

For details of all of our products, visit www.denplan.co.uk