Autumn Newsletter
Our Marathoners raise £2700 for charity
In the Edinburgh Marathon Festival this year we were proud to have 2 teams entered in the Hairy Haggis Relay, raising money for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland. Suzanne Donaldson also ran the half marathon for Macmillan Cancer Support. Training regimes varied and there were a good few aches and pains and emergency physio visits on the run up to the event but we are pleased to say that both teams finished in very respectable times and collectively raised over £2700 for great causes. Despite it being a very hot day and a good selection of blisters, the teams have both promised that they will be back again next year for more with brave talk of individual half and even full marathons. Watch this space!
Miriam Figge Becomes Long Term team Member
We have been blessed with a stable team of clinicians for a number of years now. As a team we love getting to know our patients better and it is not unusual for us to care for 4 generations of a family. Even though our conversations can be 3 or 6 months apart it is always huge privilege when our patients choose to share the many highs and occasional lows in their lives and those of their families. Although our team has grown we are still very keen that you are cared for personally by just a few of us so that we get to know both you and the subtleties of your dental health well. Within the team there is a breadth of experience and knowledge available that can be called on should you have a more unusual problem. As our aim is to deliver great personalised dental care we are delighted to announce that Miriam Figge who joined us initially for one year in July of 2016 has decided to stay on with the practice long term. Along with Callum Ward, Miriam will be contributing to reducing the average age of dentists at Craigentinny and helping us to keep waiting times for visits as low as possible.
What’s new
We have had a busy year so far with upgrades and developments in many areas of the practice. There are a good few additional changes still to come between now and Christmas time too.
Our website ……
has undergone a full makeover and revamp to improve compatibility with mobile phones and tablets making it more user friendly. You can contact us via this, request appointments and send us feedback. We are considering a dedicated advice section exclusively for patients to supplement and support the information we provide to you personally in the practice and reduce the amount of paper that we use every year, if you would like to see this please drop us a quick e-mail to let us know your thoughts.
In the surgeries…
We have a programme underway to change the layout of some of our surgeries to make them better adapted to dentistry in 2017 and beyond. If you see Martin or Fraser you may already have noticed new cabinetry and a bit of a layout change. We hope to roll this out across other surgeries as the year progresses.
An alternative to impressions…..
Many patients have told us that they don’t enjoy impressions and find them pretty stressful. We have been looking into alternatives for some time and will shortly be going live with an extended trial of a new optical scanning technology that may do away with traditional impressions all together. We are completing our preparations over the next few weeks and hopefully I can update you on this potentially exciting development in our next newsletter.
Dental Fear & Sedation Services…..
We love to help patients with dental fear and for the last 2 years have had the ability to help both patients who want to beat their dental fear without medication through our Nervous Patient programme, while also being able to assist patients who would rather be sedated. As part of our commitment to quality care Martin and the Sedation team underwent an independent Sedation Inspection. The inspector looked at all areas of our sedation practice and reported back that she was very satisfied with the standard to which the team operate. Ensuring all of the documentation, procedures and most importantly care are just right for every patient is no small task and the report highlights that Martin, Suzanne and Maureen provide a very thorough service. The whole sedation team also renewed their Immediate Life Support Certification which is a intensive and demanding day for all involved. Equally it is reassuring for us all to have such highly trained colleagues in the practice. If you have a family member, colleague or friend who is scared of the dentist please point them to our website as there are lots of resources that can help. One of the most popular items is the free 7 day beat your dental fear e-course with more than 800 people completing this. The web resources are there to be used even if you are not a patient so please do share them widely.
Wrinkle reduction & Dermal Fillers….
Over recent years we have been asked by many patients to consider providing treatments involving Botox or resorbable dermal fillers at the practice. A recent change in legislation also means that these treatments should only be provided in licensed and inspected premises such as dental practices or dedicated clinics. Over the first 6 months of the year a few of the team have been training and reviewing their results in both the use of Botox and Dermal fillers that can reduce the signs of ageing. Our service has been designed around best practice, using only branded quality materials and aims to remove the unpredictability that many patients report with these treatments. More information about this is on our website at craigentinny.co.uk/facial-aesthetics
Finally one more quick bit of promotion for SAM Radio © (Scottish Autistic Media) which is a community internet radio station that caters for people who have been diagnosed with Autism/Asperger’s. It was the brainchild of some of one of our longest standing families and is growing rapidly while helping an increasing number of young people. You can find out more at samradio.org on Facebook or listen at http://tunein.com/radio/SAM-RADIO-s264588/
and finally
a quick thank you for the many referrals and recommendations that have been made this year. When you recommend us as your dental practice to others it is one of the biggest compliments you can pay to the team, we don’t always get the opportunity to say thank you in person but do sincerely appreciate your support and confidence. As ever you can contact your own dentist direct with any dental questions, concerns or problems that are on your mind but might not warrant a visit to see us. Just use their firstname@craigentinny.co.uk
We look forward to seeing you again soon in the practice,
With all good wishes
The Craigentinny Dental Team
PS if you haven’t been to see us for a while why not request an appointment now via our website just click the button below