Please give us a 5* review

We'd like to improve how easy our website is to find. Apart from being referred by their dentist the internet is the top method potential patients use to find us. You will know how confusing it can be sometimes when you do a search and get confronted with a myriad of results, not all of them relevant.

How can you help? By adding your review to our Google Places Page. Here's how

• Search on Google for "orthodontist wetherby"
• You should see a map with Wetherby Orthodontics highlighted and our details written to the side
  
• Click on "Write a review" and you will be taken to our Places Page
• Click on 5 stars and write your glowing review

You can also click on the title of this blog to be taken straight to our Places Page.

Thank you for helping us spread the word x

How do you make braces disappear?

Easy, you put them on the back of the teeth!

You may not have heard of lingual braces (lingual = tongue, so they are on the tongue side of the teeth), by their very nature they are invisible so you can't see them, which makes it difficult as orthodontists to promote them!

On Saturday I attended the British Lingual Orthodontic Society (BLOS) annual meeting. As you might expect for something so specialist it is a pretty small group, but the doubling of membership over the last 12 months shows how this type of treatment is growing in popularity. Did you know that 18% of adults believe they'd benefit from straightening their teeth, but 72% are unaware of lingual braces (BLOS Ipsos Mori Survey)?

I was particularly pleased to hear of how many people are now using Incognito lingual braces, as I have recently started using this system, having used two other lingual systems before. It is completely customised for each patient making it easier for us orthodontists to use, more comfortable for you to wear, and giving really great results, as good as I would expect with conventional braces. Having fitted Incognito on a few patients now I am delighted with it and so are my patients who are already getting the benefit of having straighter teeth.

I was also honoured to give a "Clinical Pearl", sharing a tip with my colleagues that can make treatment easier. Lingual braces are certainly challenging to use and the learning curve is steep, for that reason I'd recommend you only see a specialist orthodontist if you are considering lingual treatment.

I came away from the meeting inspired and I'm keen to bring this type of treatment to more people.

If you'd like to find out more visit the websites in the links above, visit our website or call us to book an appointment for an assessment.

Hide your braces, not your smile!

Dear Coalition Government...

I'd like to make a suggestion about saving money and a Quango you can abolish; The Care Quality Commission (CQC).

I looked through the 274 page document last night. You'd like to make sure that our patients are well looked after, well informed and have a say in their care; that our staff ar suitably qualified; that we act professionally, monitor our standards and have a complaints service. Doesn't the General Dental Council already do this?

You'd like to make sure our premises are safe, clean and our eqipments is up to date. Its all part of running a business and a dental practice and we already adhere to the HSE and myriad other regulations.

Why does it take 274 pages to tell us this? Why do we need another body to be accountable to? Is simply filling in a form really going to make a difference to patient care? How will a bit of paperwork help those practices who don't or can't comply?

You still can't tell us how much it will cost us to be regulated by the CQC, a body which also oversees hospitals and social care. (Perhaps I should refer them to their own Outcome 3, about informing patients of fees in advance!)

Please can you stop heaping more and more regulation on us dentists (and presumably many other professions) and leave us to concentrate on what we do best, treating patients?

Visit Our New Website

I'm delighted to announce that the new Wetherby Orthodontics website is now live! We've had a re-vamp to make it a bit more modern and the main thing you will notice is the colour scheme (though if you've been following this blog you may have noticed the new colour scheme started here). It should be easier to navigate with the menu and sub-menus along the top and there is more space for before/after pictures and a dedicated page for testimonials.

Visit the site at www.wetherbyortho.co.uk and view our introductory video. You can now follow us on Twitter or Facebook to hear up to date information and opinion and find out about special offers. Either follow the link from the home page or search for @wetherbyortho.

If you want to get in touch you can simply send us your phone number using the callback box on any page or fill in the form on the contacts page. We will get back to you the same day if possible, or the next working day.

We hope you like it! Many thanks to Richard and Remi at Appware who designed and built the site.

Beautiful Braces

These are Incognito lingual braces, made of beautiful gold alloy. They are highly customised to make them fit near the teeth for comfort and certainly the patients I have fitted them on so far have found them fairly comfortable. The customisation also means the results should be excellent.

Patients love them because you can't see them as they are hidden on the back of the teeth, unless you do a Myleen Klass pose (see previous blog post)!

I think they are beautiful (but then I'm an orthodontist and we're all a bit odd like that!), its such a shame they are hidden on the back of the teeth.

Be like a celebrity!

This Morning presenter Myleen Klass recently revealed she wears lingual braces, fitted to the back of her teeth rather than the front. They look like Incognito braces which are highly customised for comfort and an excellent result.

The problem with invisible braces is that you probably aren't aware they exist. Great for the wearer but promoting something invisible is quite tricky!

At Wetherby Orthodontics I have been using invisible braces for several years. They're not just for celebrities, I have fitted them on teachers, lawyers, and anyone else who doesn't want to show the world their braces. Of course, you might want to show them off like Myleen!

Incognito is our newest system and will be fitted on our first two patients next week. If you are interested please give us a call to find out more.

Making us Smile

Thank you very much to Lucy, whose treatment was completed this week. She wrote some lovely comments about how easy her treatment was and how happy she is with the result. Her final sentence just made us smile; "It was brilliant, fabulous, fantastic, great, pleasing, easy, whoop de doop!"