Fresh Dental Care Web Log

I like being a dentist

Treating the nation

A healthcare supplement in today’s Telegraphincludes an article on “rewarding careers” in healthcare, listing amongst others, dentistry as one of four professions. BDA Executive Board member Nilesh Patel is featured, describing his professional progression as a dentist and his view that if an individual is “prepared to work hard and be fully committed, [they] can have a really rewarding career.”

Marcus: " I agree with Nilesh - being a dentist is great! I don't think I would say that if I worked within the NHS but, as a private dentist, the opportunities for providing patients with wow fabulous service and with fantastic advances in technology make the day to day life at Fresh Dental Care very fulfilling.

We are looking at advances in the treatment of gum disease; Rachel, my hygienist, has been on a course recently and we are now combining a new regime of mouth washes with regular detailed cleaning and bacterial analysis to see if antibiotics are needed to properly treat this dreadful disorder."

The cost of clean dentistry

Added costs may drive NHS dentists into private practice

The Scotsmantoday reports that new standards for decontamination in Scotland may prove too costly for some NHS dentists to manage, potentially driving them to take on more private patients in order to meet the added cost. Chief dental officer Margie Taylor says the government was “looking at seeing what the options are” for approximately 140 practices in Scotland who “can’t expand,” adding, “we don’t want to put in jeopardy the services they are currently offering to their communities.” Meanwhile, BDA Scotland director Andrew Lamb expresses concern over the threat of closures urging the government to provide “the facilities and the infrastructure and the ongoing revenue costs to allow them to continue.”

http://news.scotsman.com/health/Added-costs-may-drive-NHS.5337616.jp

Marcus: "Full, no holds barred, cross infection control in dentistry is costly, we know that from experience here at Fresh Dental Care. It is what we have to do to gain and keep the confidence of our patients, so the government in Scotland will have to fund the NHS improvements."

"At Fresh Dental Care we have an 'all zones backstage pass' for our patients. Patients are welcome to visit any part of the practice and be shown the measures we take for their safety - but I think most patients take it for granted that we will look after them."

NHS Dentistry vs Private

HSJ on “toothless dental policy”

The Health Service Journal includes an opinion piece from Simon Stevens, CEO of UnitedHealth, exploring the core issues creating “”chronic confusion and dissatisfaction” over NHS dental provision. Stevens takes into account the evolution of the service since its inception in an attempt to clarify the underlying aim of NHS dental provision.  He also addresses the “mess” arising between public and private provision, and praises the “sign of bravery” demonstrated by Conservative proposals for changing the system, which, he suggests, is necessary. The piece acknowledges the “perverse incentives” inherent the 2006 contract, which he says have led dentists to “pick and choose” how much NHS work to undertake, and ultimately concludes that any measures taken in the interim to expand provision “won’t work” without tackling the incentive issue and clarifying “what NHS dentistry is trying to achieve.”

 Marcus: " As a private dentist, it is very easy to criticise the NHS. I do not know how to make the NHS dental service work properly. I am of the opinion that it is not working too well, as can be seen by the above article. The choice between NHS and private is a value choice. At Fresh Dental Care we try to balance high quality customer service and good value for money. We try and produce high quality work of the latest technological specification and of high aesthetics."