“38% of 12 year olds have signs of tooth wear.”*¹ You can help!

According to the Children’s Dental Health Survey 2013 “up to 57% of 5 year olds and up to 38% of 12 year olds have signs of tooth surface loss on the incisors.”*¹ Now that your young patients are going back to school, their lunchboxes may include acidic fruits, fruit juices and fizzy drinks which can lead to enamel softening and tooth wear. The enamel of their adult teeth has to last the rest of their life. And once enamel is gone it’s gone for good.

How can you protect your young patients’ enamel?  

Pronamel® for Children toothpaste has been developed with dental experts to help provide daily protection from the effects of erosive tooth wear and decay.

-          Optimised fluoride formulation with 1450 ppm fluoride to help re-harden acid-softened enamel

-          Low abrasivity to be gentle on softened enamel

-          Neutral pH and SLS free

The online CPD module, developed by GSK, gives you the opportunity to find out more about how to identify tooth wear using the BEWE tool. Simply visit www.gsk-dentalprofessionals.co.uk to complete the module today!

Pronamel® has worked with leading dental experts in the field of tooth wear to develop a range of products specifically designed to help protect against the effects of erosive tooth wear,² such as Pronamel® for Children.

Recommend Pronamel® for Children to provide daily protection against erosive tooth wear and decay.

References:

1. Children’s Dental Health Survey 2013. Report 2: Dental Disease and Damage in Children England, Wales and Northern Ireland. March 2015. Health & Social Care Information Centre.
2. Final Minutes from the Expert Panel Meeting to Discuss Toothwear/Erosion

in Children. GSK Data on File. 2007

*Refers to the lingual surface of the incisor only

Trade Marks are owned by or licensed to the GSK group of companies.

CHGBI/CHPRO/0038/15c

On Monday 22 August, Denplan welcomed Chief Dental Officer for England, Sara Hurley, and Andrew Taylor, her Dental Programme Manager, to the company’s head office in Winchester. The aim of the meeting was to explore areas of mutual interest between the private and public sectors. There was acknowledgment that engagement between the two sectors centres on common patient-centred goals – not least that of offering more patient choice, and improving the long term oral health of patients in the UK.

Henry Clover, Denplan’s Chief Dental Officer said: “We were delighted to welcome Sara and Andrew to our offices, where we were able to explain Denplan’s business model and the range of support services we offer to 6,500 member dentists nationwide. We see this as the start of a conversation on potential areas of collaboration and information sharing.”

One area of discussion was the Denplan Excel certification programme, developed over 15 years ago for dentists to help support clinical governance, professional regulation and excellence in patient care and communication. The Denplan Excel programme was also UKAS accredited in January this year. Denplan explained that they would be open to future discussions with the GDC regarding continuing assurance plans, and with the CQC, to discuss the potential value of clinical service accreditation and peer review schemes. These could be useful information sources to support their inspection programmes and to help continue driving up standards in dentistry.

Henry also shared some data recently published in the British Dental Journal which demonstrated that worsening oral health correlates with worsening general health. This was derived from over 37,000 patients who had received a Denplan PreViser Patient Assessment (DEPPA)¹. The research provided further evidence for the association between high-risk lifestyle factors such as smoking and heavy drinking and poor oral health outcomes in an area of common interest in all sectors of primary care.

There were also discussions around the array of tailor–made practice training sessions that Denplan runs for practices and their dental teams – over 450 sessions per year.  Denplan Academy training covers areas such as complaint handling, legal and ethical issues and GDC standards, preparing for CQC inspections, and caring for patients with dementia to name a few.

Henry said: “It was generally agreed that any initiatives and training that improves practice efficiency and in turn improves oral health outcomes, would serve the profession well to be explored on a wider scale.”

Sara also outlined the case for a national programme to improve dental health through better co-ordinated care and empowering communities to implement their own sustainable oral health initiatives.  She will be launching the concept of “Smile 4 Life” at the Health and Care Innovation Expo next month; national support for existing community based projects, a hub for sharing best practices across Local Government Authority areas and ensuring that local oral health initiatives are complemented by innovative commissioning approaches within local NHS England Commissioning Teams and supported by the profession. 

The initial focus is “Early Years/under 5’s” with the aim to provide opportunities for families and  children to establish good oral health habits as a daily norm, be it nursery school or at home.  With encouragement and ease of access to dental care professionals, first check-up by age 1 and opportunity to continue to visit the dental team regularly for age–appropriate preventive advice, together with help to ensure problems are identified early, the prospect of a generation of children free from decay becomes increasingly real. 

Keen to expand the concept of Smile 4 Life beyond childhood, Sara also touched on an ambition for a wide-ranging programme for oral health reform – with a focus on improvements for the oral health of the over 65’s, the 16-24 age group, the homeless, the ageing well (typically aged 35-55) and those aged 85 plus – a population expected to double between 2010 and 2030. She also expressed her determination that the dental profession work together to lead and achieve the required changes.

Henry commented: “Denplan will continue to support such prevention strategies that recognise that good dental health in childhood is vital, not only for lifelong oral wellbeing, but for good overall long term general health. This is ever more so important now, given the lack of an oral health focus in the government’s recently published obesity strategy.” 

^[1] http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v221/n2/full/sj.bdj.2016.525.html British Dental Journal 221, 65 - 69 (2016) Published online: 22 July 2016 | doi:10.1038/sj.bdj.2016.525

About Henry Clover

Henry Clover joined the Professional Services team of Denplan in 1998, having worked as a dentist for 17 years looking after patients’ oral health in his own practice. He now holds the position of Director of Dental Policy at Simplyhealth and is also Chief Dental Officer at Denplan. Henry playing a vital role in Simplyhealth’s Leadership Team and is at the forefront of private dentistry liaising with more than 6,500 member dentists.

About Denplan

Denplan is the UK’s leading dental payment plan specialist, with more than 6,500 member dentists nationwide caring for approximately 1.7 million registered patients. Established in 1986 by two dentists who pioneered the concept of dental payment plans, Denplan has been at the heart of dental care for nearly 30 years and today the company is owned by Simplyhealth. Denplan has a wide range of dental plans for adults and children, enabling patients to budget for their private dental care by spreading the cost through a fixed monthly fee. We support regular attendance and preventive care, reducing the need for clinical intervention and helping patients to maintain healthy teeth and gums for life.

For further information visit www.denplan.co.uk. For oral health tips and advice visit www.myteeth.co.uk. Patient enquiries telephone: 0800 401 402   Dentist enquiries telephone: 0800 328 3223 
 

• 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
• Plans for Children: routine and other agreed care + worldwide dental injury and dental emergency cover
• Membership Plan: registered with the dentist + worldwide dental injury and dental emergency cover
• Denplan Emergency: worldwide dental injury and dental emergency cover only
• Company Dental Plans: company funded, voluntary and flexible benefit schemes 
   

Denplan also provides a range of professional services for its member dentists and their practice teams, including the Denplan Quality Programme, Denplan Excel Accreditation Programme and Denplan Training, plus regulatory advice, business and marketing consultancy services and networking opportunities.

Since it was established in 1972, Curaprox has become a leading name in oral health.

“As a team, we pride ourselves on offering proven solutions that encourage best practice, correct technique and ensure an efficacious oral hygiene regimen – and that is why we are delighted to be expanding our service to the Irish market with a new team member,” says Richard Thomas, MD of Curaprox UK.

“Though we have had a presence in Ireland since 2014 supplying our products via two renowned distributors, our goal has always been to expand Curaprox UK. That is why we have recruited Orla Sheehy to look after Curaprox Ireland as a Senior Business Development Manager.”

Orla is originally from Carlow, and has worked as an Operations Manager for a dental equipment company and for GSK.

Over the coming months Curaprox will be increasing its support to oral healthcare professionals across Ireland through regional meetings and by attending exhibitions.

Orla will also be working very closely with iTOP tutor Barbara Derham as part of Curaprox’s efforts to increase its educational presence.

In the meantime, Curaprox will continue to produce oral healthcare products that are safe, gentle and effective.

To find out more, contact Orla on 085 1644648 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For more information please call 01480 862084, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.curaprox.co.uk

While our love of queuing may be integral to our national identity, the truth is that we, just like everyone else in the world, don’t really like having to wait. This is particularly true in the dental practice – with waiting times being a real bone of contention amongst patients.

Of course, it may be impossible to completely eliminate your waiting times – after all, dentistry is a very, very busy profession and, while you will undoubtedly do our best to see patients as quickly and efficiently as possible, the very nature of the work that you do necessitates a level of care that can sometimes result in delays.

Nevertheless, it is always important to strive to ensure that your waiting times in practice are not unacceptable – not only since you have a responsibility to your patients, but because it can also be damaging to the reputation and success of your practice.

Indeed, waiting times can be a very important factor for patients when choosing where to go for treatment. Nowadays, patients are well-informed, organised and far more discerning when it comes to choosing dental care, and are much more likely to conduct their own research before booking an appointment – and if they find reviews of your practice that mention a long waiting time, they may simply choose to go elsewhere.

You also have to remember that this can be true of your existing patients too. Unfortunately, loyalty to one’s dentists is largely a thing of the past. No matter how good the service they receive has been before, if your waiting times begin to increase, your current patients may just leave for a practice that is more convenient for them.

As such, being in control of your waiting times is key to providing consistently excellent customer service. To be a successful, thriving practice in what is becoming an increasingly competitive profession, customer service must be impeccable from the minute a patient first makes contact. Indeed, if a patient does not believe they have received the utmost service in this respect, even if the treatment itself was a success, their opinion of the practice in general may be ruined. After all, if you go to a restaurant and are served delicious food by a bad waiter who made you wait, it’s likely the poor service that will be remembered.

You should also remember that people lead increasingly busy lives nowadays, and sitting in a waiting room is simply a waste of their time – making it unsurprising that so many people are willing to forgo their dental treatments in the first place.

However, by carefully managing our waiting times, you can improve your customer service and strengthen your patients’ positive relationship with your practice. It’s also good for compliance too, since patients who are happy with the service they have received are likely to be more receptive to any advice they are given regarding their oral health. It will also encourage patients to continue attending your practice, helping you build a more personal relationship with them, one that is more communicative and trusting, which will give you the information needed to better treat their problems.

What’s more, managing waiting times will also benefit your staff. Without having to deal with consistently annoyed or impatient patients, your reception staff will be less stressed. They’ll also be able to more effectively get on with their work, without the disruptions caused by potential complaints.

Of course, to set reasonable waiting times, you have to be ruthlessly efficient about how you organise our appointment book. Using an online booking platform is an effective way of achieving this. With complete control, you can upload only the appointments you want to fill, for your patients to browse and book. This allows you to keep your daily and weekly workload at an optimal level, within your abilities to manage, and gives space for any emergencies, routine follow-ups or, in those unavoidable instances, delays. Online booking will take some of the pressure off your reception staffs too, so they can focus more on welcoming the patients who have come into the practice rather than dealing with busy phone lines and bookings.

AppointMentor from Welltime is a perfect example of this kind of system. It affords complete control of your practice’s appointment book, is accessible 24/7, 365 days a year; is easy to use, and simple for you to review and revise.

Ensuring your patients do not have to wait unduly long amounts of time for treatment is a fundamental aspect of good customer service. It will also help streamline your whole treatment system and strengthen the reputation and efficacy of your practice. Look for tools that can help you set reasonable waiting times: they allow people to get actively involved in making decisions about their care and get the most out of you, their dentist.

For more information, contact the Welltime team on 07999 991 337, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit the website at www.welltime.co.uk.