Sebastian Evans

The most important asset in a dental practice isn’t the equipment, the office location or the doctor’s clinical skills. It’s the people. It is important to hire good staff members and retain them. However, in today’s world, that isn’t easy. In working with thousands of practices since 1985, Levin Group has found that staff members…

Some of the aptitudes required to be a good receptionist can be taught and learned, whereas other are innate. Soft skills, which make a huge contribution to the quality of reception services, cover a wide range of qualities such as personality traits, social graces, use of language, personal habits, friendliness and optimism. These virtues are…

I have previously written about how little I really know about late dental implant failure caused by the ongoing loss of bone around the dental implant. I just haven’t experienced it or seen it, except in textbooks and articles. So, assuming it does exist as a disease process, can we prevent it and how? Correct…

Oral cancer screening and awareness has been increasing in both the media and with patients. Many patients attending general practice appointments are aware of the dentist checking for any abnormalities of the oral soft tissues in addition to the hard tissues. The aim of this article is to outline two aids to screening. Basic undergraduate…

Having long been an advocate of an annual retreat for business owners (preferably taken in August each year), I remain concerned at the number of dental principals who do little or no planning either in the short-term or for the year ahead. So in this article, I want to assume that you are one of…

If you are a dentist who wishes to get involved in implant dentistry, and refers out the surgical part, there remains a lot to do in order to complete a case after surgery. An impression must be made of the implant, an abutment selected, and the usual deliberations of shade taking and the material of…

There really is no magic to running a financially successful dental practice, as the majority of our clients know. There are many different skills required, and a certain entrepreneurial mindset, but even these do not necessarily guarantee success. To ensure rising profits, however, you do need to focus on five key areas: 1. Converting as…

There will always be patients dissatisfied with the care they receive, or whose expectations are not met in some way or another. Sometimes this relates to the treatment itself. Sometimes the dissatisfaction relates to administrative matters, such as being kept waiting or the amount charged for treatment. Other times it may stem from a personality…

Sunjay Parekh was named the winner of the 2006 Wrigley’s Oral Health In Action Student Award. This year, the organisers asked dental students, student hygienists and student therapists across the UK to put their thinking caps on and design an information leaflet for elderly patients. The handout had to feature key oral health messages for…

The clinical case pictured in Figure 1 was recently referred to me. A significant cervical perforation had occurred during the access one-week prior, and the location of the perforation made either intra-coronal repair or surgical correction problematic. While much could be written about perforations, several important lessons can be drawn from this that have clinical…

If you get a spare few minutes you must read books by Malcolm Gladwell. His work is easy reading but full of amazing ideas that challenge the way we view the world. His latest book, Blink, really got me thinking. As many of you already know, one of my beliefs is that we are over…

New dental companies are finally being allowed to form following this summer’s removal of restrictions on practices wishing to incorporate. There are one or two conditions in that the majority of the directors have to be GDC registrants, either dentists or dental care professionals, and the GDC will keep a list of all corporate bodies…

When are folk going to grasp the fact that cleaning teeth isn’t something you can accomplish while doing something else? It is a difficult task, which needs total concentration. In the space of just one week recently there were two occasions when I was requested to do something at the same time as cleaning my…

Good communication is vital. Get it right and the chances are that the consultation will proceed uneventfully with a satisfactory outcome for both patient and dentist. Communication is two-way. There is information passed from patient to dentist and vice versa. That information must be accurate and carefully assimilated – problems arise when accuracy is the…

Implants are the buzzword in dentistry at the moment – patients want them and everyone wants to do them. The uptake of implants in the UK is far behind our European and American colleagues, but is expected to catch up with annual growth at 40% year on year. This article looks at the benefits of…

Fresher’s week is over. You’ve made new friends, settled into your new home and slowly getting used to fending for yourself. Now comes the biggest challenge of all – tackling your new workload. The first year of dental school is designed to get everyone’s biology and chemistry knowledge up to speed. This is to give…

Don’t let the simplicity of this little ‘gem’ fool you. It is by far one of the most powerful psychological tools you will ever come across. ‘The contrast principle’ is used on a daily basis all over the place. Even if you understand and recognise it, even if you know it’s being done to you,…

The demand for cosmetic dental procedures around the world seems unaffected by economic vagaries and appears to be growing at a compounding rate of around 20% per annum. This growing demand is forcing general dentists to review both their diagnostic and clinical delivery skills, leading to a demand for training programmes in cosmetic dental procedures.…

Image, as regular readers of Blue Horizons articles will be aware, is vital to a practice’s success. To your patients, the image your practice carries the same impact as the quality of service and dentistry you offer. Therefore if your image is that of a modern, high-class practice, patients will assume your dentistry will be…