Dental Awards

On Friday we (myself and dental nurses Michelle and Emma) will be attending the Dentistry 2008 awards in Leicester.

We're really proud to have have been nominated for Best Practice for the North East and Yorkshire. It should be a fantastic night, a proper glossy awards ceremony with a banquet and awards presentation followed by dancing, and hopefully celebrating! We seem to have the most nominations in our category, but we will keep our fingers crossed for the win. If you want to see who we are up against the title is linked to the shortlist.

I will update next week with some photos and news of how we did.

This week I will be mostly...

...preparing for 2009.

I have a few spare hours this week, the practice is often quieter in December because with Christmas coming up most people don't want braces fitted, or even have the time to get here. So I have been making use of the time to prepare for next year, including planning our marketing strategy.

Mainly I have been looking at the fees which usually change on 1st January. The good news is that the consultation fees will not change, and some simple treatments may even be better value than 2008. The rest will be increasing by about 4% to cover changes in overheads, staffing, marketing etc.

The other good news is that knowing that people's purses are under pressure at the moment I have decided to put the fee-increase on hold until 1st February. So if you are not sure whether to book a consultation, now is the time to pick up the phone and give us a call, as if you are seen in January you will be guaranteed 2008 fees (or the new prices if lower) even if your treatment does not start for three months.

I look forward to seeing you soon...!

10 ways to look after your teeth

(Click the title) 10 important tips on looking after your teeth, whether you have braces or not!

How to make your dental nurse happy...

...fit her with braces! Or rather, remove the braces having made her teeth straighter.

This is Charlotte, who is a dental nurse with our sister practice Ashby Dental. She didn't like the lower teeth because one tooth seemed to stick up above the rest. It wasn't a severe problem, but Charlotte didn't like it especially as being in the profession you want to have great teeth, it doesn't make a very good advert for your practice otherwise. So I fitted her with a lower fixed brace for just long enough to straighten the offending tooth. She's really happy with the result and this now takes the total of staff I have treated to four! I wonder who could be next...?