David Drew – The Dental Barns
David Drew, practice manager and his wife Keely Thorne, principal dentist, have established a new ‘dental experience’ practice in the beautiful countryside near Lichfield in Staffordshire. David spoke with The Probe about how The Dental Barns, the equipment they use and the way in which patients are treated, all reflects their philosophy.
What experience are you providing patients with at The Dental Barns and why does this make your practice different from others?
We believe that everyone deserves to feel good about their smile.
For us, this means removing all of the fears that patients may have between where they are now, and feeling good about their smile – whether that is getting their oral health under control or improving their smile aesthetically.
To achieve this, we are guided by our core values: Excellence, Wellness, and Bespoke – each always underlined with transparency.
We believe we stand out as a practice. We’ve looked at all aspects of the patient journey, and really challenged ourselves in terms of how we can alleviate stresses, elevate transparency, and improve the overall wellbeing of our patients.
How does the setting and environment you’ve chosen for the practice align with this philosophy?
Anxiety is a big barrier between patients and a confident smile. In order for us to overcome this, we have stepped away from the traditional dental setting that can often trigger thoughts of negative past experiences: sounds, sights, and smells.
Our surroundings couldn’t be further away from the traditional dental practice. Set in a rural rustic barn, there’s ample free parking, no hustle and bustle of the high street, and beautiful scenery to soak in.
This aligns perfectly with our philosophy, as it instils relaxation, rather than anxiety.
How do your aims in this area determine the suppliers you chose to work with?
Things need to run smoothly, be as comfortable as possible for the patient, and to achieve this we need to use equipment of the highest quality. All of this helps provide a seamless, predictable, stress-free journey for patients.
Our suppliers, naturally, need to be reliable, offer great support, and build exceptionally quality consumables and tools.
NSK has a reputation for quality – how have you experienced this in terms of the hardware and also the personal support you receive from NSK?
We opted to unify our main handpiece and decontamination (autoclave, and oiling machine) supplier to NSK. Our decision was based on service, and the quality of each product in the range. We’ve been very impressed with NSK, to date we have had no handpiece failures, and not a single autoclave failure in over 700 cycles.
Dr Keely Thorne is the practice principal, which NSK handpiece is Keely’s favourite?
Keely loves the NSK Ti-Max Z95L 1:5 Speed Increasing Contra-Angle Handpiece: The handpiece feels very high quality in the hand and is a nice weight – which gives no hand fatigue during long treatments. It’s also quiet, which is really important for our patient group in particular.
The practice performs a lot of cosmetic dentistry – how does NSK equipment help you achieve the outcomes you and your patients desire?
The handpieces we use are really put through their paces. In long composite bonding cases, for example – where we would sometimes book out the entire day – there can be lots of polishing and adjustments and the handpieces stand up really well.
A lot of precise control is needed with these cases which the handpieces also provide.
Infection control is a vital aspect of dentistry – how does NSK’s iClave plus and the iCare that you have help with quality control and efficiency and are there any other reasons why you chose this equipment?
We are quite space restricted in our decon room, and so space and workflow were a top priority when considering our equipment choices. The iClave Plus is surprisingly roomy for its footprint, and has a good range of flexible cycles. Being able to turn over equipment quickly has been a bonus. Features such as being able to auto-drain have also helped with the workflow in decon.
The iCare handpiece oiling unit was a must have for us – manual oiling of handpieces introduces too many variables and has the potential to be very messy. The iCare is extremely simple (almost enjoyable to use!), and has helped ensure our handpieces have the best care throughout their usage cycle.
NSK provided a one-stop solution when it came to handpieces and decontamination, and each product being of the highest quality made it quite a straightforward purchasing decision.
Do you have an NSK service plan for your handpieces/autoclaves?
We have an annual service and calibration of the iClave Plus – (just coming out of our first year). We haven’t had to consider service plans just yet, but with our philosophy in mind, it will be something we look closely at – as we want to avoid any service drop out, and importantly, avoid any interruption to our patients’ journey.
