As our name suggests, we are Progressive in nature and continually improving. We do not believe in standing still. So what's new? Well, we have had many improvements this year within the practice. These include:

1. New LED lights fitted throughout the practice just this weekend. These are energy efficient, produce minimal heat and last for many years. Environmentally friendly and emit wonderful light for dental work.
2. New sterilisation equipment. We have purchased a new Little Sister 2010 autoclave with a data printer to verify the correct sterilisation temperatures have been reached.
3. New surgical flooring. Medical grade, non slip, anti bacterial and easy to clean.
4. E-mail and text reminders sent for each appointment.
5. Consent forms sent via Echosign, an online signing facility provided by Adobe. We are trying hard to go paper free!

As you can see, it is not just the clinical side of dentistry that we improve upon. The little things matter, this is what makes us stand apart. If you would like to visit our practice for your first initial examination and see the improvements first hand, please contact us 020 7731 1162 or e mail info@progressivedentistry.co.uk.

Dentistry has certainly been in the news recently with the dentist from Nottingham and his dubious cross infection techniques. This therefore puts the spotlight on dentistry as a whole but also allows us to respond and let our patients know exactly how our cross infection policy works. This is what we do: 

1. Alcohol hand rub prior to every patient and new gloves. 

2. Every single instrument is taken from a pre sterilised bag that has a date when it was sterilised and when it should be sterilised again it not used within the time frame.

3. All used instruments are hand cleaned and scrubbed using dental disinfectant.

4. Instruments are then placed in an ultrasonic bath.

5. Instruments are then sterilised in an autoclave.

6. The autoclave has a printer to verify that the correct temperatures have been reached and for the recommended time frames.

7. The instruments are then dried and sealed and dated within the bags. We have invested in a new autoclave recently, the Little Sister 2010 which is extremely reliable and effective. We also ensure all surfaces are cleaned thoroughly before and after every patient. The practice is also professionally cleaned every day after clinics have been run using high quality disinfection techniques. Earlier this year, we invested in high quality flooring within both surgeries to ensure effective cleaning. 

We constantly strive to improve our services to ensure to a safe environment for our staff and patients. However, we welcome feedback and if you feel we could be doing something better or could recommend an improvement, please let us know.

Our case of the month for November involves cosmetic bonding of a front tooth. The tooth in question was treated after orthodontic teeth straightening. Once the teeth were nice and straight, the smile was significantly enhanced with our minimally invasive technique of cosmetic bonding.

A brief overview of the technique:

1. The tooth is cleaned and polished. Any old composite filling material must be removed and any sharp edges smoothed.

2. Washing and drying with an etching gel.

3. Coating the tooth with a fine bonding layer. This is set with a special light at a certain wavelength.

4. Incremental layers of the composite bonding material are added until the new outline has been achieved.

5. Careful contouring and polishing of the new restoration.

6. Occlusal (bite) analysis and final aesthetic evaluation.

Here are the before and after photos: