Our blog

Some thoughts and news from the Chapel Road Orthodontic Practice

5/3/10 – National Orthodontic Week

My staff have been putting on a great show at the Broadway Shopping centre this week, as part of the National Orthodontic Week (NOW Week).

The incredible human toothbrush (alias Natasha) was in full swing and the whole team turned out to help educate the Bexleyheath public about Dental health in general and Orthodontics in particular.

I was really proud of them all.

19/2/2010 – Congratulations

Many congratulations to two of our Nurses – Sarah and Natasha – on passing their Specialist Orthodontic Dental Nurse Examinations this month.

They have both worked very hard to pass this difficult exam and at their first attempt too - we’re all very proud of them.

It would be easy to underestimate the amount of work involved – it’s a huge subject with a high failure rate in the final exam.

Well done!

19 Years on – 4/2/10

A mother brought her 10 year old son in today as a new patient.

“Hello” she said “It’s Claire – you did my teeth 19 years ago”.

She went on to mention that her Dentist had referred her son to a another practice locally but, having been there, the standard of customer service wasn’t what she was used to so she asked to come here!

What a pleasure it is to see yet another case from years ago bringing her own children here and how nice to see that Claire’s teeth still look so great.

Four from the same family – 13/1/2010

A recently completed adult patient bought in this lovely photo.

It shows four of my patients - Mother of the Bride, the Bride, the Bride’s brother and his fiancée.

How lovely to see them all smiling on their great day.

This family group equals the previous record of four members of the same family (previous blog entry 8/8/08) and I feel really privileged to have helped them all.

January 2010

NOW you can have the smile you have always wanted and we can help!

NOW stands for National Orthodontic Week and the first NOW will be celebrated during the week of 22 - 28 March 2010.

Orthodontics is a special kind of dentistry concerned with the growth of the teeth, jaws and face.  Nearly one million people of all ages started having orthodontic treatment last year in the UK.  Orthodontic treatment is about making the best of your teeth; it's about improving the harmony of your mouth and jaws. Once you can bite together correctly, you can eat more comfortably and care for your teeth and gums more easily.  Orthodontics is all about creating a natural, healthy smile.

NOW is the brainchild of the British Orthodontic Society (BOS), a charity which promotes the very best in education, research and care of patients. The campaign has been created to focus attention on the ways the look and function of your teeth can be improved; providing you with clear, trustworthy and impartial information about orthodontic treatment and encouraging you to find out more … NOW. 

Our Service Levels - 18/12/09

We recently attended a meeting with our local PCT and were advised that the NHS had recently sent out questionnaires for patient feedback. We are delighted to be informed that we scored 97% positive feedback and only 2.6% of patients discontinued their course of treatment!

In summary: The Chapel Road Orthodontics Team is delivering impressive service levels to all of our patients and patients are more than happy with their treatment.

Referrals - 5/12/09

We did some figures on our referrals over the last two years and it was very interesting.

As you can see from the graph opposite, the number of patients sent to us by local Dentists has almost exactly doubled over the last 24 months.

2008 – mean number of referrals – 24 a week

2009 – mean number (so far) – 49 a week

This is extraordinary at a time when many practices are reporting a falling off in demand for their services.

Not only have our NHS referrals doubled but the number of private new patients shows a similar increase.

We must be doing something right.

New Cases - 20/11/09

We've been building up our 'Case history Section' of this web site recently and it's been a wonderful experience putting the cases together.

In particular, the Damon cases are coming through now and the two latest - Andrew and Mark - are ones that I'm particularly proud of.

Andy, on the right, shows a classic use of the Damon Brace - perfect alignment of the teeth, producing a good facial profile and appearance, without the need to extract, even in a crowded case.

I've always had an interest in arch development and non-extraction treatment but the new Damon Appliance makes it so much easier to do.

To see the case in full, go to our 'Case history Section' or click here.

A Lovely Card - 2/11/09

One of the delights of this profession is that you get some enjoyable surprises.

A delightful patient expressed his gratitude with a lovely thank you card, some wonderful words and a box of biscuits.

In the card (opposite) it says:-

Dear Dr Horobin

When I first visited you, I can remember how bad my teeth were and I can also remember how awkward it was for me to smile. After 4 years and many different braces, my teeth are as good as perfect and I have regained my smile!

So thanks to you and everybody else at the surgery for making that possible.

From Jack

Gosh, lovely.

New Cases - 9/9/09

We're in the process of completely redesigning our Case History Page and are gradually filling it with all new cases, which have been completed in recent months.

Excited ! - 26/8/09

I'm getting really excited by the Damon Brace finishes that are coming through at the moment.

I started using the system about 18 months ago and the first 'big cases' are now coming to an end.

and, boy, are they good!

A lovely Thank You Card - 20/8/09

One of the real pleasures of this job is the satisfaction of making such a difference to people's lives.

An adult patient, Leighann, recently sent me a lovely card with the following rhyme:-

At first my teeth were crooked

so I came for some advice

and met some helpful people

who were really nice.

They told me they could help me

and showed me where to go

they knew just what they were doing

and were really in the know.

And so today I'm thanking them

for going that extra mile

to straighten out my teefies

and give me back my smile!

To Dr Horobin, Jenny, Natasha, Lindsey, Sam, Sarah and Anne

Thank you so much

I'm absolutely delighted!

I can't stop smiling!!

Leighann

Power Cuts - 21/7/09

I have been working in the same building in Bexleyheath for over 21 years now and I've never experienced anything like this - two consecutive days of power cuts.

We lost power Monday lunchtime - it stayed off until 9am Tuesday and then went off again at 12 noon.

What a nuisance.

It's like living in the third world.

It seems that some massive fire near Dartford has knocked out a major distribution point and a huge area of S. E. London has been without electricity as a consequence.

We struggle on as best we can.

Apologies to all who have been affected.

A Very Unique Case  - 7/7/09

It was a great pleasure to see Monica again today, a year and a half after I removed her brace.

Monica was one of those cases you see once or twice in a lifetime.

She had the great misfortune to loose one of her front adult teeth through trauma.

The other central incisor was so badly damaged that it too had to be removed.

This left me with a terrible dilemma - how best to cope with this.

Because of the crowding present in the upper arch, I decided to close the spaces and here's the result.

She's so pleased with her smile these days but cringes when shown her old photos.

A real thrill to have helped someone so much.

She now smiles beautifully.

If you're of a technical bent, you might want to notice the extremely large anterior gap that has been successfully closed here.

You might also notice that the pointed canine teeth have been modified to have a squarer 'incisor-form' shape.

Of course, with two missing front teeth, you're never going to have an absolutely perfect text book smile but we've come pretty close here and she has not had to undergo the trauma of implants or wear dentures.

Quick Movers - 1/7/09

The speed at which modern high tech braces can move teeth has to be seen to be believed.

Just 10 weeks separates the two photos on the right.

You can imagine how delighted the patient was to see the difference.

The brace being used here is the white InOvation C appliance, with high tech thermally active white archwires.