Practice News

Bottoms up for Race for Life Seven members of the practice team donned their Cleveland CDIC t-shirts and took part in the Race for Life in Darlington on Sunday 13th June 2010 to raise money for breast cancer. A grey day surely was brightened at the sight of these energetic ladies in the pink “running” for such a good cause. Midsummer madness, maybe, but they managed to raise £454.00 for charity and brought a smile to the faces of many of the onlookers. Well done! Bright and Beautiful After months of study, Karen, Janie, Kerry and Linzi, have been successful in the incredibly difficult Radiography exam, whilst Sarah has just passed her dental nurse exam and, apart from a little more course work, will soon be a fully qualified dental nurse. We are all happy to recognise their extremely hard work and also to thank all of our dentists who helped them along the way with tutorials and problem solving exercises. At times, even the dentists struggled with the complexity and depth of the Radiography course and they really had to pull on all of their reserves to help. What a brilliant achievement for all five team members. Their commitment and dedication has been over and above what would normally be expected - four of them actually missed an Awards ceremony in Leicester as their exam was the very next day. Their desire for self improvement and training is a great asset to the practice and our patients, enabling us to continue to provide the very best service and care. Of course, like the rest of us, they are not perfect and we all celebrated with Kerry’s chocolate cake one day and cream cakes the next – we’re only human, after all! Ding Dong our practice is merrily on high! After travelling to the Athena at Leicester on 4th December for the Dentistry Awards 2009 where we were shortlisted for 7 out of the 9 categories, the whole team were delighted with the results. Christmas came early and for the second year running, we were awarded Best Practice for the North East Region, Mike Heads was highly commended for the National Outstanding Achievement Award and Kevin Caruana was highly commended for the Best Young dentist for the North East Region. After being shortlisted for 3 out of the 4 categories for the National Dentistry.co.uk Website Awards 2009, we were awarded the National Award for Best Website. With the exception of 4 team members who were taking their Radiography exam that Saturday, we made the trip our Christmas celebration and partied on the coach there with games, competitions and prizes. The fancy hat competition was fiercely contended with the Christmas tree hat taking first prize. Celebrations continued at the splendid black tie dinner and Awards ceremony till the early hours of the morning. We have had a fantastic year in terms of being honoured with so many Awards and we would like to thank all of our loyal patients who have supported us over the years. We have entered these Awards to ensure we match up to the very best practices in the UK and to confirm we are giving our patients the very best service – the whole team are proud to be acknowledged by fellow professionals for the excellent care we provide and we are committed to ensuring this continues. Be happy with us. Have a very merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous New Year. Mouth Cancer Action Month - November 2009– It is important to educate everyone with the signs and statistics of oral cancer……. To make people more aware of mouth cancer and to support the above campaign, we are having an open day on Saturday 21st November 2009 where we will be offering free oral cancer screening with our state of the art Velscope machine – this is offered to non practice patients, as patients at this practice receive this screening free within their Denplan Care scheme (other practices normally charge privately for this service). Please telephone the practice to arrange an appointment (01642 570138). 25 years and still the sky is the limit! 25 years since the practice opened, the Dental Healthcare Centre has celebrated in style by showing it still has what it takes to provide their patients with award winning facilities and care. What better way to celebrate than to collect 5 of the 23 trophies at the National Dental Awards held in London on Friday of last week. 8 members of the team travelled to the Royal Lancaster Hotel for a Black tie dinner on Friday 24th April 2009 which was hosted by former M.P. and television star Giles Brandreth. It was a stunning evening which started with the practice collecting the Award for Practice Design and Interior North and then following this up by collecting the Award for the whole of the UK which was presented by the Chairman of Denplan, David Phillips. “The practice wowed the judges with its “breathtaking quality of design” and they said, “the practice is a benchmark for practices aiming to deliver the ultimate patient experience.” The second half of the presentations came after dinner, when our hygienist, Karen Hails was presented with the National trophy for Hygienist of the year – no mean feat as there are 4000 registered hygienists in the country. The judges were impressed with her well structured care routine which contributed to a high level of patient motivation. Karen was very emotional as she collected her trophy from Kathryn Norris, Products Manager for Dentsply UK. It is one of the highest accolades for our hygienist who works so hard and has a fantastic relationship with each and every one of her patients. Currently overseeing a hygienist referral service and our fresh breath clinic, Karen still has her feet firmly on the ground, but justly deserves this National recognition. Just when we thought the evening could not get any better, Practice principal, Mike Heads who had been nominated for the Award of Dentist of the Year without him knowing till after the nomination had been sent, was announced as Dentist of the Year North. We were all excited for him as he is not the sort of person who would put himself forward for anything like that and could not believe it when he went to collect his trophy. It did not seem as though he was sat down for 5 minutes when he was up again receiving his Award for Dentist of the Year for the UK which was presented to him by the Marketing Director of Dentsply UK, Dean Hallows. The judges were impressed by Mike’s outstanding leadership and said that Mike had been referred to as a perfectionist whose aim is to deliver the highest standards in dental care for his patients. As Giles Brandreth pointed out, there are approximately 25,000 registered dentists in the UK and for Mike to receive this honour is a brilliant achievement. We are all in shock, but are so pleased to be celebrating 25 years with a collection of National trophies – in a period of 6 months we have been awarded 6 National trophies, not including those we have won for the North Region. Mike Heads commented, “Holding six major awards from four different awards ceremonies shows our success is no fluke. We are over the moon with the achievements of our own practice, but I also feel these National honours should be celebrated by everyone in the North East. They are an indication that the people and businesses in this area can achieve at the highest level and compete with the best in the rest of the country, and beat them. We hope the next 25 years holds the same success and happiness as we are experiencing now and that our patients continue to benefit from the high standards of care and service we are able to provide.” Mike joins the stars at the Smile Awards Mike competed against many of the top cosmetic dentists in the country at the National Smile Awards in London on 20th March 2009. He was shortlisted in two categories – “Conservative Smile” and “Generosity of a Smile” and was successful in the latter category. His case presentation of the treatment he had done for Mandy Williams was praised for its excellent documented records and, though a very complex case, the excellent results which had been achieved. Mike was delighted to have helped Mandy regain her confidence and her beautiful smile -  her character and determination has inspired him to provide more of his time on a complimentary basis to help others in similar circumstances. Mike commented, “to be shortlisted amongst some of the best cosmetic dentists in the country was an achievement in itself, but to actually win one of the categories was totally unexpected.” The Practice Wow Factor While Mike attended the Smile Awards, Linda was also attending an Award ceremony at the other side of London in Old Windsor. Following their original entry and a visit from the judges, The Dental Healthcare Centre and Cleveland Cosmetic and Dental Implant Clinic were short listed to the last two finalists in their category “Small City/ Large town” in the Dental Practice Wow Awards. “The purpose of the Wow Awards is to recognise and reward excellence in a dental practice. They are, deliberately, rather different from other dental awards in that their focus is not simply on impressing others in the profession, but rather the impact a practice is having on patients. In short we are looking for practices that evoke a spontaneous Wow! from their patients.” Mike accompanied Linda to this venue where they both had to give a power point presentation about the practice. Mike then hurried off to Kensington to attend the Smile Awards, leaving Linda to listen to the findings of the judges and the results. The standard was exceptionally high and the route to the final had involved a lot of hard work – on this occasion, the practice was runner up in their category, but, nonetheless, this was a brilliant achievement. Our role in the community – we are always trying to give something back to the community we live in. It has been very rewarding to accommodate our latest works experience student who is considering studying dentistry at University. Michael tracked the dentists in their steps and proved to be a charming, interested young man who I’m sure could make a great career in dentistry.   Mike Heads asked to sit on Nobel Biocare Corporate Advisory board – one of 12 dentists selected Nationally to discuss the way forward with products and services to reach even higher standards in implantology. He is honoured to have an input into the future technology of dental implants and continues to use his knowledge and skills to give his implant patients the very best treatment available.

Inventor of implants visits our practice Ophir Fromovich, the inventor of Nobel Biocare’s Nobel Active implant system took time out of a flying visit to the North East to meet with Mike Heads and his team. Mike was able to pick Ophir’s brains on the Nobel Active implant system and get the answers straight from the “horse’s mouth, so to speak.” Mike was invited to join this very learned inventor in Israel at his Clinic to host some courses for fellow dentists – this, indeed would be an honour and would give Cleveland Cosmetic and Dental Implant Clinic a truly International string to its bow. Ophir is shown in the photograph with Mike and some of our Implant team. Cleveland CDIC Road show Janie, Kerry, Mike and Linda took to the road to personally deliver our new patient information leaflet on dental implants to 170 practices. These new leaflets had been requested by many of our referring dentists and we were happy to deliver them complete with leaflet holder and new referral pads. We were all made very welcome at practices located as far afield as Whitby, Durham, Darlington, the Dales and many more local practices. Mike and Linda were actually on holiday and planned to get a last minute escape abroad, but Iceland’s volcanic ash clouds put pay to that idea – “Every cloud.....” and all that! They offered to help Janie and Kerry and delivered to the practices further afield as can be seen by the photo. Our commitment to ensuring our patients and those of referring dentists have access to as much information as possible is key to the success of our practice and we acknowledge the willingness and versatility of the practice team in helping to deliver such a service. The Cleveland CDIC Road Show was a resounding success, even with a very disruptive, volcanic ash cloud hanging over us. HEADS’ ROLE AS LONDON JUDGE Mike Heads is honoured to join the panel of judges for the 2010 National Private Dentistry Awards in London after accepting the invitation from Chairman, David Houston. He is delighted to have the opportunity to work alongside many eminent dentists and to be attending the Private Dentistry Awards in London once again. Mike commented, “After winning the prestigious title of Private Practice of the Year 2009 at these Awards and meeting some of the judges, I am looking forward to being in the privileged position of working alongside them and also making a small contribution to such a fantastic event.” Mike seems to be on a roll at the moment. For the second year running, he has been named in Dentistry Magazine’s 2010 suggested list for the Top 50 most influential figures in the dental world, he was highly commended for the National Outstanding Achievement Award at the National Dentistry Awards (Dec. 2009), runner up as Private Dentist of the Year at the National Private Dentistry Awards (Nov. 2009), winner of Dentist of the Year at the National Dental Awards (April 2009) and winner of Generosity of a Smile at the National Smile Awards (March 2009). We wish Mike luck with his latest venture and congratulate him for the success he has had over the past few months – Well Done! National Private Dentistry Awards 2009 – what a result! Fourteen of our team travelled to the Intercontinental Hotel in London on 6th November 2009 to the National Private Dentistry Awards which proved, once again, to be an extremely competitive and glamorous event. Many top notch private practices had been short listed for a variety of categories and the judges commented that both the quantity and quality of entries amazingly continued to improve and excel from year to year. Sir Paul Beresford, dentist and M.P., hosted the evening with sponsors of the event presenting the Awards. Our practice was short listed in three categories: Most Attractive Practice Most Improved Practice Private Dentist of the Year – Mike Heads We were delighted and honoured to be runner up for Most Attractive Practice as, unlike many other practices, we do not employ the services of an interior designer and decide on the décor and ambience ourselves. Again, we were over the moon when it was announced Mike was runner up for Private Dentist of the Year – what an achievement to receive such an honour amidst so many well known, talented private dentists. The evening progressed and all bar the ultimate Award had been presented. All short listed practices eagerly awaited the result for the prestigious title of Private Practice of the Year 2009 – the overall winner of the Private Dentistry Awards. As the details of the winning practice unfolded, we all sat tensely taking in the realisation that the description seem to fit our practice and we hardly dare hope that such an Award was ours. When the first two words of the practice name were announced, the whole table erupted with a mixture of joy and disbelief. We are proud to have received this Award and we are proud to strive to achieve the ultimate in patient care, but most of all we are proud we recognise we are not perfect and never will be, but we will always strive for this ultimate, unachievable goal. Thank you to all of our patients who have supported us and sent us so many amazing testimonials – this Award has been given to our practice and we dedicate this to our many loyal and fantastic patients. Well done to all of us – what a fantastic result! Reminiscing, at this particular moment in time, the practice holds the following Current National Awards: National Private Dentistry Awards 2009 Private Practice of the Year 2009 National Dental Awards 2009 Winner of Dentist of the Year - Mike Heads Winner of Hygienist of the Year - Karen Hails Winner of Practice Design and Interior National Smile Awards 2009 Winner of category "Generosity of a Smile" Award – Mike Heads National Dentistry Awards 2008 Winner of the Best Practice in the UK Award. Our practice has been recognised as one of the best and our aim is to “Keep Trying!” Sadly, Alison Murgatroyd, a member of our administration team, has left us to take advantage of an opportunity in the City of London. Her partner, Andrew, was offered a position working for a Lady, looking after properties in the Chelsea area and Alison will, virtually, be a lady of leisure herself – who wouldn’t want to take advantage of such an appealing venture? Over the past few weeks, Alison has had to take a lot of flack as we have mercilessly “had her life,” taunting her with the “Ladette to Lady” syndrome. So much so that Mike and Linda Heads, as part of her leaving present bought her Debrette’s book of manners and book on etiquette for girls – these books have a personal message from Gill Harbord (TV series, Principal of Eggleston Hall –Ladette to Lady), and it’s hoped the content will help in her new venture. Alison and Andrew enjoyed a meal at the Sharrow Bay Hotel, Ullswater with Mike and Linda to thank Alison for all of her hard work and loyalty over the past 9 years. Colleagues took Alison for a full day of revelry in Durham and presented her with a lovely bracelet as a keepsake. Needless to say, Alison, not changing the habits of a lifetime, was rather merry towards the end of the evening. We will all miss Alison’s cheery ways, but most of all – her cheek! Practice wins major National Award - The Dental Healthcare Centre team attended the Dentistry Awards 2008 ceremony on Friday 12th December 2008 being short listed in the  Best Team and Best Practice categories. The Award ceremony took place at the Athena in Leicester and started with a Champagne reception followed by a fabulous 3 course dinner and then the Awards themselves were hosted by Olympic Gold Medallist Kriss Akabussi. It was a tense night as the standards were very high.  Competing against eight other practices in our region The Dental Healthcare Centre was over the moon to be awarded Best Practice in the North East Region. Each of the nine regional winners were then considered for the overall title of Best Practice in the UK and the Dental Healthcare Centre was announced as the Nation’s top dental practice for 2008. Mike Heads commented  “It is a fantastic honour to be judged the best practice in the UK. I really can’t say enough about the dedication and commitment of our whole team as they have worked so hard to provide our patients with the best possible facilities and treatment. We are so proud both for our practice and the North East”. The criteria for the Best Practice Award was “We are looking for an extra special practice that can prove they are the best in their region. From small practices to large specialist surgeries each entry will be judged on its merits. Clinical excellence should be backed up with patient testimonials. Let us know how your practice has improved, how the team works together. Inform us about charity or community work your practice is involved with and what you are most proud”. The judging panel consisted of top members of the profession including dentists, hygienists and practice managers  and they assessed the written presentations which were backed up with pictures, marketing material and testimonials from each practice. As the entries were assessed on a regional level first, it meant that competition was extremely tough and the entries were of an extremely high standard. We know we can maintain our standards but we also realise that we must keep improving them otherwise we will not stay at the forefront of dentistry. Practice wins National Award – Attending a very glamorous Award Ceremony at the Intercontinental Hotel in London on 7th November 2008, the practice was absolutely delighted and overwhelmed to be awarded "The Private Dentistry Award for Most Improved Practice 2008." The criteria for this National Award was. "We seek the practice that has made the most dramatic and profound changes in the last 12 months. Have you undergone changes in appearance, working practices? We are looking for changes that are more than just skin deep, show us that your whole character has undergone a rethink and reinvention." There were 13 categories for the Awards and 600 practices took part - we were one of the very few practices outside of the London area to be honoured at one of the most prestigious events in the dental calendar. The whole team were overjoyed and other practices who did not know us commented that we obviously have a great team spirit and we had worked very hard to achieve this in such a short space of time.