Why Choose Us?

We had an old strap line “to provide a caring and relaxed professional service with a personalised approach” which still very much applies, but as you read below, we do much “more than meets the eye”.

Choose us as your dentist because we will do our very best to fulfil the requirements as stated in this recipe for you.

Recipe for great dental health and a winning smile
There are three key ingredients which you will need to achieve long-term success for your dental health and a winning smile, and interestingly good teeth is not one of them…
 

You will need:

• A terrific highly trained dental team to work with you & care for you
• Facilities with advanced new equipment, but in which you can feel relaxed
• A willingness on your part to learn & take responsibility for your own health

How to choose the best quality ingredients:
Ignore marketing hype– any dentist can claim to be a cosmetic dentist or have a special interest in something without additional training. Instead you must examine the level of commitment to postgraduate education – dental school only teaches the basics.  Ask to see certificates of courses attended – are they international or just local? Does the dentist have memberships of respected educational bodies such as British or American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Dawson Academy, Hornbrook Group, Spear or Kois Institutes.

Consult with a few practices- Do you feel you were listened to and your wants were understood rather than presumed?  Was a comprehensive overview of your situation taken with time given to explain your long-term options rather than doing simple ‘patch-up’ dentistry?  Did you know there are at least eight ways of fixing a space?  Do you understand the consequences of a bad bite?

Ask to see pictures of the dentist’s own work, not marketing stock pictures of treatments.  Does it show artistic excellence and look realistic rather than bulky or fake.  Any artist who is proud of their work will be very happy to show it to you.

Check that the entire team make you feel welcome– they should know and be interested in you as the person you are and not just another patient in the production-line.  Modern dentistry like medicine and surgery is a complicated process which requires good teamwork to pull together.  Can you get appointments within a few weeks.  The dental hygienist is going to be your biggest cheerleader so pick one with a pleasant personality who does a good thorough job and takes time to ensure you are doing the right things at home.  High quality dentistry can cost a bit so prevention makes good economic sense.

Get educated- one of the best ways to learn about your own situation is to see images of your teeth taken with a special camera used inside your mouth. Often the issues and problems going on in your mouth are so small that you cannot detect them until they are at a pretty advanced stage of deterioration. Gum disease generally doesn’t hurt until late stages. Bottom line – if you don’t know what’s going on how can you help to fix it?

Technology matters- equipment has progressed a lot since the days of drills which were powered by a sewing machine style foot pedal and pulley strings.  Some practices have lasers which can be used for a variety of treatments, often much more comfortably than traditional methods.  Intra-oral (literally ‘inside the mouth’) cameras are extremely useful in aiding diagnosis and education as mentioned earlier.  Your bite is a result of many complex factors involving your jaw joints, jaws, muscles and teeth.  To measure this we use specialized equipment called an articulator, but only a small proportion of practices own one.  They allow much more accurate replication of how your jaws function and therefore better shaped crowns and bridges can be made for you on them compared to traditional methods.  

It takes a large investment in training and equipment to be able to practice dentistry at the highest level.  Not all practices make these investments and their results usually reflect this.

I do hope you have found this information helpful and will contact us at Hillsborough Dental Practice as one of your shortlisted practices.

I look forward to meeting you…
Dr Kevin McKelvey, Clinical Director

It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done.  If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.
John Ruskin