TGDP Newsletter Spring 2023

Easter has come and gone, and it is hard to believe we are already 4 months into the new year. Spring is upon us with Daffodils and tulips greeting.

Easter is also a symbol of new beginnings and reminiscing over the past years and moving forward. Therefore, we want to start by saying Thank you for all your support over the years and for the years to come.

Practice News: 

As many of you may know, we are having renovations at the practice. Thank you for everyone’s understanding with the noises and any inconvenience this may have caused.

We are a six-surgery practice, and it can get extremely busy therefore please leave plenty of time to make sure you get to your appointments on time. Parking is limited and is on a first come first serve basis. There is off street parking near by.

Staff: 

April is also a great month to say Thank you for the support of all our staff and their hard work.

This year Sam our lead receptionist has been with us for 13 years, and recently become a Nanny – congratulations Sam, always smiling and welcoming our patients into the practice.    

Armando Mendes, one of our dentists, has been at The Gables also for 13 years .

Fiona Blake started in January ’23 and Christopher Pepper started in September ‘22 as new dentists with us, they have both settled well in at the Gables.

Dayna Badcock- Knott our hygienist who has been educating and helping you all to look after your teeth, has been with us for almost 9 years. We have a new hygienist joining the practice, Nichola Bartley, who will be starting in May and working Fridays. This will help with the high demand we are experiencing for our hygiene treatments.

We have two of our nurses pass their dental nursing exams and are now fully qualified! Well done to Amy and Sam-G  Congratulations! 

Products: 

Oral Hygiene is the most important part of oral health and with this in mind, we would advise regular hygienist visits. We have 3 hygienist working 5 days a week to help to look after your oral health.

We often take for granted that all our patients know what a good oral hygiene regime is- so here is a very short recap….

-use an electric toothbrush, preferably Braun Sonicare or an Oral B. The new IO oral B toothbrush is great and worth a try

-brush twice a day for 2 minutes. Preferably 1st thing in the morning and last thing at night or after your last meal or before bedtime

-use a fluoride toothpaste.

-remember to do interdental cleaning such as floss or interdental brushes once a day every day.

If you suffer from a dry mouth or have acid attacks e.g. heartburn, high acid intake like wine or fizzy drinks a fluoride mouthwash is very important.

If you are unsure of what is best for you, please do ask your dentist or hygienist.

Types of Dentistry: 

As many of you know we provide a large range of treatment. Although we do NHS treatment, it is for our existing NHS patients. As previously mentioned, NHS patients are not registered with the practice. At present we do not accept any new NHS patients and will not for the foreseeable future.

We also provide Private Dental Care which includes teeth whitening, implants and Invisalign.  With the private care you can either be a private patient, meaning you pay for the treatment as you go. We also offer various Plans, such as our Practice Plan and Denplan which you can pay monthly or as a one-off payment, depending on the plan of your choice. This covers your examinations and hygienist visits and again will depend on the number of visits to each. The plans also cover any emergency call-outs after surgery hours as well as emergencies while you on holiday. Please see our website or send an e-mail to us if you need more information.

As several long weekends are upon us, it is worth mentioning, for any emergencies please call 111 for NHS patients and for private or plan patients please call 07956657486 or e-mail [email protected]

Finally….

As with all businesses we also rely on your support, and a recommendation is always appreciated. Our appointment cards have a QR code on the back, so you can leave a review. Online reviews are becoming essential for better dental practices to distinguish themselves providing dental services. Although we are not taking on any new NHS patients for the foreseeable future, we hope that you can help by providing some positive comments about your experience with us. We would of course welcome any constructive advice to improve our services further for you.

This leaves us once again to say Thank you all for your continuous ongoing support at The Gables. We hope you all have wonderful bank holiday weekends.