At The Priors Dental Practice staff are dedicated to a team approach in prevention, early detection and treatment of dental diseases, and strive to educate patients to promote a healthy smile for life.
Established some 29 years ago now in Penkridge in Staffordshire by principal Mark Emms, the practice’s clutch of awards and recognitions of excellence include membership of the British Dental Association Good Practice Scheme as well as other awards stretching back to 2005.
The practice prides itself on an ethos that the whole team believes is an essential part of the ‘patient journey’. When a patient attends the practice, the staff not only strive to create a welcoming and friendly atmosphere, they also use the same team approach to prevention and education – with all members giving a consistent message along the patient journey.
Paramount
With an increasing number suffering from diseases such as diabetes, Mark and his team maintain it is their responsibility as health care professionals to inform patients of the links between the health of their mouth and their general health. Thorough medical history taking is essential to this so that the staff have all the information needed when discussing these issues with patients.
Practice principal Mark Emms and his team have now been placing implants successfully since 1992. He comments: “Good oral hygiene is paramount in maintaining the support for dental implants. It is essential that we spend a lot of time and effort working with our patients to educate and motivate them to achieve a very good standard of plaque control before any implants are placed. The patient should be made fully aware of their role in implant maintenance and that the implants are at risk if they do not continue with a good standard of oral hygiene.”
Comprehensive diet histories and diet advice is discussed with all patients at The Priors and the team also uses a variety of visual teaching and motivational aids such as an intraoral camera to show patients the areas they cannot normally see. Together with diagnostic tools, such as radiographs and comprehensive periodontal monitoring, they can make it as easy as possible to give the patients all the information needed for them to make the right choices for them about their oral health and treatments.
Biofilm
The clinicians tailor product recommendations to meet the individual needs and preferences of their patients. Mark explains: “For patients on a regular maintenance programme, we generally recommend an Oral B electric toothbrush as this helps with dexterity problems and helps to create the correct brushing technique. We advocate thorough daily interdental cleaning to disrupt the biofilm and we use a wide range of options for this as it is important to work together with our patients and we need to be assured that they are happy and confident that they can use these products at home. We generally recommend Oral-B ProExpert toothpaste as a good all round daily toothpaste. It has excellent plaque removal and anti-staining properties but also helps with sensitivity. We recommend products such as Oral-B Superfloss for cleaning around implants and implant bridges.”
It is the team approach at The Priors that seems to be the key motivator for patients. Mark concludes: “Our communication skills are our best tool in educating and motivating our patients and we carefully listen to our patients past experiences and needs to work together to achieve a healthy mouth. This is done very much as a team approach to reinforce our advice given and it certainly works.”