
BEST PRACTICE SPONSOR 2020
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
42 | FOREST DENTAL LOUGHTON
I only recruit motivated and talented
people. Forest Dental’s current nurse,
Victoria May, provides a vital chairside
role in the overall patient experience
and, coming from a Harley Street
practice, understands the need for
clinical excellence.
24-hour service
Approximately five years ago we
decided to replace our receptionist with
a virtual PA company. This change was
implemented to enable us to provide a
24-hour service to patients. Our virtual
PA company answers calls throughout
the day and night and then forwards a
consolidated list to me detailing which
patients have called and providing me
with a brief summary of the reason for
their call. Ipersonally return each and
every one of these calls, which enables
me to prioritise, discerning whether
a same-day emergency appointment
is needed or if the issue is more
routineinnature. This approach seems
to be appreciated by my patients and,
quite often, only advice or reassurance
over the phone is required rather than
an actual appointment.
Living relatively close to Forest Dental,
I am able to open the practice at
weekends and evenings for emergencies
as and when needed. I am keen to
ensure that my patients are well cared
for and not left in discomfort. In an
area such as Loughton, which has
many dental practices in a two-mile
radius, we feel that this level of service
differentiates us from the competition.
Limited hours, unlimited
attention
As a mother of two, my working day
has to fit in around my other priorities.
Although the hours I offer are limited
– we are open four days a week – the
attention I provide to my patients is
unlimited. Through the 24-hour call
monitoring, swift personal call-backs
to patients and opening for emergency
appointments, we have all basescovered.
We are proud to have received the
highest possible scores from our periodic
reviews by the CQC and continually
strive to retain this level of rating. We
provide a responsive and tailored service
to our patients, including regular visits to
the laboratories that we use for patient
work to discuss with the technicians
the specifics of each individual case.
Forest Dental uses local laboratories
as far as possible for patient work
as we are committed to supporting
localbusinesses.
We are passionate about
keeping up to date with
the latest techniques
and innovations
We feel that
our level of
personalised
service
differentiates
us from the
competition
“
“
Cosmetic improvement
of a dark front tooth
involving root canal
treatment, teeth
whitening, porcelain
crown (with bespoke lab
shade matching)
43FOREST DENTAL LOUGHTON |
Although the
hours I offer are
limited, the
attention I
provide to my
patients is
unlimited
“
“
Forest Dental “mini-
makeover”: teeth
whitening, aesthetic
recontouring and two
porcelain veneers to
improve a smile
Sab and Victoria treating
a patient
Preventative and holistic
We have never, and will never, use
amalgam fillings containing mercury,
and we are now proud to offer BPA-
free white fillings. We appreciate
it is important to be able to offer
alternative options for our discerning
patients, and to explain the benefits
and disadvantages associated with
each option.
We have also invested in cutting-edge
technology such as the Healozone
machine, which allows tooth decay
to be treated without having to drill
the tooth, effectively “fillings without
drilling”. While not suitable for every
cavity, it has allowed us to expand
our treatment and we are one of the
only practices in Essex offering this
service. In addition, our investment
in a Diagnodent laser machine helps
us to identify tooth decay in patients
at an early stage so that we can
provide preventative treatment. These
technologies, as well as fibre-optic
lighting in high-speed drills, intraoral
cameras and advanced digital X-ray
technology, enable us to offer our
patients the latest technologies in their
dental care.
Composite bonding
We are keen to provide minimally
invasive dentistry and strive to
improve a patients smile with a
“mini-makeover” approach, using the
latest composite bonding techniques.
Wehave found these mini-makeovers
to be very popular due to the fact
that they are cost effective and do not
destroy valuable tooth enamel.
A green future
I enjoy being a single partner practice,
and I find it liberating to be able to
make decisions on practice vision and
ethos without broader consultation. I
continually review our environmental
impacts and continually look at ways of
reducing Forest Dental’s consumption of
single use plastics items.
I am passionate about providing high
quality dentistry underpinned by all
round service excellence. This is key to
earning trust, building strong patient
relationships and making a visit to the
dentist something to look forward to.