Christina Chatfield was one of the first few hygienists in the UK to open a walk-in hygiene practice offering various levels of prophylaxis and oral health treatments. A visionary concept which brought many challenges.
When Christina opened the Dental Spa in Brighton she had a target market of 70 dental practices in the area. She started by targeting a few saying: ‘If you refer the hygiene to me, I’ll refer the dental side to you’. She believed these practices would readily refer patients with compromised oral health to her for advanced hygiene services and her appointment book would soon become busy.
It was a sound business model. But as one of the first hygienist-owned practice in the UK, the thinking was based on optimism rather than experience. The referrals she anticipated when she opened her doors in 2007 failed to materialise to the levels needed. Today she is doing the very opposite of what she planned, and is marketing her services directly to patients instead. Many of the people walking through her doors do not want to see a dentist at first, they want what she is promoting, a preventive approach to a clean, healthy mouth or whiter teeth.
To comply with General Dental Council regulations and have a prescription from a dentist, she employs two part-time dentist associates.
Her marketing is intense. She runs radio campaigns, publishes and distributes promotional cards and attends events where she demonstrates her innovative style of working. A lot of work has gone into the practice website where she promotes her different levels of appointments.
She explained: ‘Over two and a half thousand people come in here and less than 200 are coming in for dental services. The other 2,300 odd are for hygiene services alone.’
These hygiene services include:
- a full mouth assessment, disinfection, prophylaxis and a tailored home oral hygiene regime
- maintenance therapy with the air polisher as a standard part of the treatment
- a full mouth detox
- air polishing for stain removal
The Dental Spa is on the road connecting Brighton station with the seafront and Christina ensures the large front picture window is visibly striking. This has brought in a small but steady flow of new patients. Her current campaign depicts a gleaming red pair of lips, with the phrase ‘100 per cent kissable’ beside them.
‘I think we have made it easier for patients to come in by saying, look you don’t have to have your dentistry done here if you don’t want to. And we are positioning our preventive and hygiene services as part of cosmetic routines for male and female patients. They feel they are not going to be oversold anything. We are very much consumer-led,’ she said.
It has been a challenging two and a half years. Despite the fact 50 per cent of the population do not see a dentist but might be tempted to see a hygienist, attracting them through the door requires persistence. Christina is constantly creative with marketing, with the opening hours and with the surgery space. For the past year, for instance, a foot clinic operates from one of her surgeries.
Despite the challenges, her commitment to oral hygiene education remains as strong as ever. Getting children properly trained and enthused to look after their teeth and gums is important to Christina. She runs a kids’ clinic on Fridays when she teaches them about tooth brushing and introduces them to Listerine Smart Rinse as an adjunct to their home care routine.
Despite the long hours, her enthusiasm remains intact.
‘It’s quite an exciting place to work and to be able to do something for a patient and see quite a dramatic change is really rewarding.’
She qualified in Dundee in 1981, worked in various practices and went through three conversions from NHS service to Denplan. As a result, her commitment is to the overall delivery of care. After a spell in the dental industry as a science liaison officer, she became familiar with the scientific research of periodontal and oral health issues and the need for evidence based dentistry.
Prevention and oral health education is the backbone of the practice and she talks to all her patients about the systemic link between gum disease and other ailments like coronary heart disease and diabetes. Christina is committed also to the preventive approach to home care regimes. She talks to patients about bacteria in the mouth and the role of biofilm and advises all patients to be rigorous about plaque control with recommended tooth brushing, interdental cleaning and essential oil mouthwash as routine. She is a strong advocate of Listerine and every patient rinses with it at the end of their appointment.
She reflected: ‘What do I think two and a half years on about my belief in having independent hygienists on the High Street? I think hygienists, whether working alongside a dentist or working independently, are the people who can manage patient care and dictate their own profile. Do all hygienists want it? No they don’t. But should all hygienists be capable of doing it? With today’s training, of course they should.’
As for the future, she says she is really optimistic. Through trial and error she has found marketing directly to patients and making them responsible and aware of their dental health is the ultimate way forward.
Brought to you by Johnson & Johnson.