The Dental Team Manchester

We’re only just back from one holiday…!

thedentalteam — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:04:17 +0000

Firstly, let me wish all our patients a very happy New Year and hope that 2012 brings you the happiness you deserve.
Well, it’s the first full day back in nearly two weeks after the festive holidays and I think the team are finding it hard to get going again. The decorations will be taken down over the next day or two and that does leave the whole Practice feeling a little bit bleak.
However, for me I have to confess to being on a bit of a personal countdown – because on just four weeks I will be doing something I’ve never done in my entire working life – I’m taking time off to go travelling. Not just any holiday, but around the world! Starting with a flight to the west coast of America to spend time in San Francisco, it’s then off for two weeks on a whistle-stop tour of Australia, a few days exploring the delights of Fiji and the Pacific Islands, back to Australia and then on to Hong Kong for a short break before flying back to the UK.
In all, we’ll be away for nearly five weeks which is going to be wonderful and something that my wife and I have planned for the last 25 years – when we got married we said we would travel to Australia to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary; what can I say, the woman in Trailfinders did an excellent sales job when we went in to book it!
Of course, this means that the next few weeks are rather busy as I endeavour to complete treatment plans. All my lovely patients can be confident that any dental problems they may have in February will be dealt with by my fantastic associate Viraj.
If you want to follow our journey, then you can do so by subscribing to my wife’s blog here.
See you when I get back!

Happy Birthday To Us!

thedentalteam — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:00:39 +0000

Hard as it may be to believe, but The Dental Team is 20 years old this month! Time has certainly flown by; when we first opened there was myself, one nurse and one receptionist….now the team consists of two dentists, a hygienist, an oral surgeon, a Practice Manager and nine support staff – not forgetting Gloria who does a great job with the general cleaning!

Some of our lovely patients who were with us at the beginning are still turning up for their regular check ups, others have joined us along the way and become great advocates for our Practice by happily recommending us to their family and friends.

Personally, I would never have imagined that I would be using the internet or a little blue budgie to keep in touch with you. But dentistry has changed (we used to do general anaesthetic sessions back in those days!) and so has the expectations of our patients – the modern, high quality clinical treatments are as important as the friendly attitude of our staff and the most cost-effective prices.

Who knows what will happen by the time we celebrate 30 years of business – but I bet they won’t have found anything to replace a great night out with your team to celebrate!

Think we’d better move to Hull…!

thedentalteam — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:24:11 +0000

Interesting article this week about how the Tooth Fairy is more generous in some parts of the country than others…Manchester children seem to do reasonably OK out of her but not as well as those who live on the East coast. Losing teeth must be a big business over there! How well do your children compare?

New NHS Patients Needed!

thedentalteam — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:27:24 +0000

The Dental Team has a contract with Trafford Primary Care Trust to provide an agreed amount of NHS treatment each year and this is something that we monitor closely to make sure we meet our agreement in full.
At the moment we have a little ‘space’ in our books for a few more NHS patients, so if you or your family are looking to join a Practice that cares as much about your teeth as you do, then please give us a call.
Once we’re back up to capacity again, prospective new patients will have to go onto our waiting list so make sure you act quickly!

The Truth About Us!

thedentalteam — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:49:28 +0000

There are over 24,000 dentists working in the UK profession in over 10,000 practices.

Tonight’s TV programme featured less than 6 practices and less than 10 dentists who allegedly were “gaming the system.”

If these allegations are true, we are as shocked and upset as you are.

Programmes like Dispatches are there to expose the malpractice of all in the professions and business – bankers, politicians, business leaders, celebrities, healthcare professionals and others.

They do so in order to sell programming and advertising – so the more outrageous the better – if you dig deep enough you will always find a story.

Here at The Dental Team, we are very proud of our team, our standards of customer service and clinical care.

We hope that watching the practices and individuals featured in the Dispatches programme will have demonstrated the investment that we make in your dental practice, the care that we extend to our patients and the difference that we provide.

The truth about YOUR dentist is that we care.

Twittering Away…

thedentalteam — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 07:00:44 +0000

Right, I have been pursuaded that Twitter is what I should be doing now along with this blog so if you want to know a bit more about what I’m up to on a regular basis then please follow me @thedentalteam. We’ll be using Twitter to let people know of special offers or events that we have planned during the year, so it’s definately worth making sure that you’re on there!

Back From My Travels

thedentalteam — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 15:21:30 +0000

It’s been a while since I updated this blog, mainly because for three weeks in February I was travelling around the USA with my son on a holiday of a lifetime!
My wife loves to go off climbing mountains and every year she gets away for a few days by herself, doing what she enjoys out in the snow-covered Alps. So we decided that it was time for me to do something that I’d always wanted to do – an American road-trip that included the chance to see some of my favourite ice hockey teams in action.
I have to say that planning it all was half the fun; my son Josh and I spent hours pouring over game schedules to work out the best way of seeing the maximum number of teams as possible. With his favourite team (the Pittsburgh Penguins) and mine (the Detroit Redwings) firmly in the plans we then spent hours at Trailfinders finalising the logistics of our trip. We took 18 days to cover Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit – manic at times due to the snow hindering travel plans but great fun and leaving memories that we will both remember for the rest of our lives.
My lovely patients were looked after by our Associate, Viraj, during my absence and although it was a fantastic holiday, it’s also good to be back too!

Digital Dentistry Hits The Dental Team!

thedentalteam — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:00:32 +0000

At the moment we are currently reviewing how we market our Practice – we’ve never been a business that has spent money on glossy adverts or mailshots because we know that the best way to spread the word is to give our patients a great service and ask them to recommend us to their family and friends.

However since we’ve gone “all electronic” and stepped into the 21st century with paperless medical records and digital X-rays we thought it about time that we dipped a toe or two into the world of e-marketing – we’re looking at keeping in touch with you through newsletters that can be e-mailed directly to you with details of special offers or new services.

Equally we want you to talk with us about what you like about our care and treatment – and also how you think we can improve things too! You can write on this blog, join our Facebook group or follow us now on Twitter @TheDentalTeam.

However you keep in touch with us, we’re always happy to chatter!

Cheap But Not Even Cheerful

thedentalteam — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:34:38 +0000

Last weekend I was shopping in the Trafford Centre when I came across a business that was offering a tooth whitening service in less than an hour.

Of course I had to make a few enquiries! Sadly, there is nothing new about these sort of companies – dentists have been campaigning for a long time to try to get them more closely monitored because they can do real harm to people who don’t understand that getting a brighter smile is a lot more risky than having your hair coloured!

Firstly, I think there is very little privacy for those who do undertake the treatment – several times I noticed passing shoppers doing what we humans do best – peaking over the top of the screens and having a good nosey at what was going on!

Dipping my toe into the water, I asked the receptionist whether I would be ok to have tooth bleaching done as I had a couple of crowns in my mouth – I was assured that there wouldn’t be a problem as the bleaching doesn’t interfere at all with crowns or bridges. This is correct – because you can’t change the colour of these at all. So your own teeth can become much brighter but any others will stay the same, giving you a two-tone shade that wasn’t fashionable even in the 1970s!

I asked if the staff were qualified dentists and told that one of the girls was a dental nurse. Hmm, I’m quite sure she may be an excellent nurse but that isn’t really the point, is it? And what about the others?

As for the price – well their heavily advertised “get ‘em in” discounted price couldn’t be found anywhere on the leaflet.

Finally, I was told that if I was unsure about whether I was a suitable candidate I should speak to my own dentist – a classic example of passing the buck, really.

Wanting to have a lovely smile is great – but you need to make sure that you’re teeth and gums are up to it.

Back To Work

thedentalteam — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:05:36 +0000

Just come back to work this week after 10 glorious days on a hot beach in Rhodes. I think I’ve broken my own record by managing to get through 11 books – and not one of them was a dental journal!
Everything seems to have run very smoothly in my absence – that’s the great advantage of having this team of staff! Emergency appointments have been seen by our Associate Dentist, Viraj, and with our hygienist Alison also away on her safari holiday in Africa it’s been a little bit quieter in the surgeries. This means that our dental nurses have been able to make sure everything has been restocked and our receptionsist have been catching up on all the admin duties!
It’s already getting busy again – feels like I’ve never been away!