2020 - Dentistry

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW Highlighting best practice

properly, resulting in a less nutritious and varied food intake, thus affecting their general health. The McGill consensus report in 2002 stated that the minimum first choice standard of care for an edentulous patient should be a full denture supported by two dental implants in the lower jaw. Although recognised by experts there is still no central government funding for this type of treatment within the NHS, and unless able to pay privately for this we see the health of our elderly patients declining when the skills to greatly improve their quality of life are readily available in practices like mine. I would implore parliament to review the evidence regarding the minimum standard of care for these patients and to consider making provision for them within an NHS setting. Moving onwards We are committed to continuing to embrace ever-changing technology in dentistry and will soon be implementing remote dental monitoring, where patients are able to take their own photographs and upload them to share with us at the practice to so that the dentist can monitor their treatment. I am currently preparing for a mentoring course and want to continue to develop our engagement with the local community. I would like to visit more primary schools and continue to see the personal growth in students that comes from the sharing of knowledge. I hope to continue to be able to mentor other dentists and staff, allowing them to fulfil their potential further. My personal agenda is to continue to raise the profile of women in implant dentistry. The dramatic growth of the Fresh Smile Clinic over the past five years speaks for itself, and I hope to see this continued in the future.

Members of the team at the Fresh Smile Clinic

Driving dentistry forward We are in a rapidly evolving field, and it is essential to have those who are willing to drive dentistry forwards working within it. As exemplified by our practice, we are embracing the potential of technology for the future – it is crucial for us to keep up, else get left behind. In terms of evolving for the future, we understand that there is a great deal of plastic waste created through dentistry and feel that industry-wide changes are required in order to reduce the quantity of waste produced, particularly from the large volume of single-use plastic items we use during treatment. We are currently unable to recycle as much of this waste as we would like as it is considered as clinical waste. Ultimately, this is an issue throughout the health service, and must be addressed from a legislative point of view. As a society we have a rapidly aging population and as such we will find that the numbers of people experiencing tooth loss and complete edentulism will continue to increase in direct relation to the increase in mean age of the population. Missing teeth or ill-fitting dentures can lead to a person having to make significant modifications to their diet as they cannot chew certain foods My concerns regarding dentistry

“

I would implore parliament to review the evidence regarding the minimum standard of care for elderly patients and to consider making provision for them in an NHS setting

“

58 | FRESH SMILE CLINIC