A new way to straighten teeth

On Saturday Jim and I attended a course at the British Dental Association in London on "Inman Aligners".

An Inman aligner is a removable brace which can be used to straighten adult teeth without the need for extractions or "traintracks".

The before and after slides were amazing, with some really impressive results.

The benefit of this kind of treatment is that a straightened smile can be acheived without having to remove tooth enamel for veneers or extract teeth to make room, so it's a really conservative process.

It's also a lot quicker than conventional orthodontic treatment, taking six to sixteen weeks instead of a year or two.

We're really excited about being able to offer this as a new treatment option at Braden Dental Care.
I'm also really excited about getting my own Inman Aligner to straighten out my teeth!

Laura's wedding

On Friday 9th September, my nurse Laura got married.
It was a great day, especially as the weather was so beautiful and warm.

Laura spent the day with a beaming smile on her face, looking radiant and relaxed!

Here is Laura and the other nurses, Michelle, Michelle and Chipo, enjoying refreshments in the church hall before going on to the reception.

So, congratulations to Laura and her new husband Junior who are now enjoying a well-deserved honeymoon in the sun!

Time flies!

Nearly a whole month since my last publication!

Part of the reason for the delay is that we have been away on holiday to the South of France.
Beautiful scenery, beautiful weather, beautiful clear blue sea....I just love it.

But this week was back to business.

While we were away the Belfast Telegraph ran an article on the day in the life of my dental chair in which they interviewed each patient that sat in my chair over the course of a normal working day.
The reporter and photographer had been out before our holiday and we really enjoyed having them there.
My patients were all very obliging and happily had their photos taken and said a bit about themselves and why they come to Braden Dental Care.
It made for a good article and we were really pleased with what we saw when we got back.
It's always good to have a pat on the back!

June Smile of the month

This month I am awarding the accolade to Chipo, one of our dental nurses.

Part of the reason for her award is that she does have a great smile, which she uses often!

It was also her birthday in June.

On June 19th, Chipo turned 30.

So Happy Birthday Chipo and keep smiling!!

Belonging

Jim gave our son Jude some pocket money for helping him in the garden yesterday.
It was eighty pence, enough to buy two packets of 'match attacks' football cards.
Jude is a Manchester United fan.
The reason for this being that his best friend at school supports Man United and has created quite a 'Man U' fan club amongst the boys who all play football together in the playground.
Jude and I walked up to the shop this evening so that he could buy his cards and he excitedly arranged them in his folder with the other cards, flicking through them to admire his grownig collection.
It made me realise how much we love to belong to something.
Jude belongs to a group of Manchester United fans at school who in turn belong to a worldwide fan club. It gives them something to identify with and follow.

At Braden Dental Care we have our membership scheme for a similar reason. Our members can feel part of a valued group, looked after by our team of dentists, hygienists and staff.

Our members know that they always have someone to turn to and will always be looked after as part of our club.

There have been a lot of changes in the way dentistry is provided, with more changes afoot and in times of uncertainty, it's good to know that joining Braden Dental Care gives peace of mind and reassurance that you have a dentist that won't change!

It's good to belong!

New sterilising room

The new sterilising room is finished!

This now gives us two fully-equipped rooms. Sterilisation of instruments in Dentistry is fundamental and the main role of the dental nurse.





This room has a section for the incoming dirty instruments which are cleaned and autoclaved and then taken over to the clean side to be re-packaged ready for use again. It's not a very exciting subject but it's so important that we wanted everyone to know that we're investing in their safety at our practice.

This was Jim's project and a job well done!

Smile of the Month!

This is my first "smile of the month" post...technically "smiles" this time, May 2009.

For my first month I'm cheating slightly by awarding it to my own children and some of their friends.

We had a day out at Castle Ward, Co Down on Sunday.

The sun was shining, it was lovely and warm and the kids were full of beans, happily enjoying their day together.

I think these are lovely smiles...genuinely happy ones....from left to right : Charlie Berkeley (8), my son Jude (6), Tara Berkeley (5) and my daughter Lucy (also aged 8).