Our news

July 2008: Changes to antibiotic protocols

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued a clinical guideline, on 17 March 2008, on antibiotic prophylaxis against infective endocarditis.

The guideline makes a significant change to current clinical practice by recommending that preventive antiobiotics should now NOT be given prior to dental (and some other non-dental) procedures, irrespective of any existing or treated heart condition.

The change is based on the best published evidence and a concensus of multidisciplinary expert opinion within the Guideline Development Group (GDG). It concludes there is no consistent association between interventional procedures, dental or non-dental, with the development of infective endocarditis. Further, the clinical effectiveness of preventive antibiotics against infective endocarditis is unproven. The evidence also indicates antibiotic prophylaxis against infective endocarditis for dental procedures may lead to a greater number of deaths through fatal anaphylactic reactions than not using antibiotics.

In accordance with this guideline, we will no longer prescribe preventive antibioitcs prior to dental treatment. If you are someone considered to be at risk of infective endocarditis through your heart condition*, it is even more important for you to maintain good levels of oral hygiene ongoing and also deal with any dental infection promptly.

Please refer to http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/index.jsp?action=byID&o=11938 for detailed information.

*valvular heart disease with stenosis or regurgitation; valve replacement; structural congenital heart disease (excluding isolated atrial septal defect, fully repaired ventricular septal defect or fully repaired ductus arteriosis); previous episode of infective endocarditis; hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

July 2007: Sally appointed by General Dental Council

Sally has accepted a position on the Fitness To Practise Panel at the General Dental Council. The post involves the hearing and adjudication of cases of alleged professional misconduct and, if necessary, determining the disciplining of the offending dental professional.

The 5 years’ appointment, commencing January 2008, will necessitate Sally’s absence from i-teeth dental care from time to time. However, she will receive advance notification of the dates of hearings from the GDC so we hope to be able to minimise or completely avoid any inconvenience to you.

June 2007: Teeth in Tanzania

Sally has spent two weeks’ busman’s holiday in Tanzania. Volunteering to work for the non-government organisation (NGO), Bridge2Aid, Sally provided dental treatments at the Hope Dental Clinic in Mwanza, Geita goldmine and Bukumbi (a village established for those rejected from society owing to disability, disfigurement or disease, including leprosy).

Bridge2Aid, founded by a UK dentist, funds several community projects in a country where there are no dental schools or dental hospitals and where there is only one dentist per 300,000 people (70% of whom cannot access the cities and towns where the dentists are located). DIY dentistry has been practised throughout Tanzania, with, inevitably, some disastrous results. Among other projects, B2A fund the training and equipping of local Tanzanians to become community dental officers in their remote areas, enabling them to provide safe and effective emergency dental treatment for their villages.

You can find out more about B2A by visiting our Links page.

April 2007: Goodbye and Hello!

i-teeth dental care were sad to say, ‘Goodbye’ to our hygienist therapist, Claire Goble, who has been part of the team since we opened in 2005. Her caring touch will be missed by the team and patients alike. We wish her well with her new ventures (and will, of course, be keeping in touch).

In her place, we are very happy to welcome Ellie Stiles EDH to the team. Ellie began her career in dentistry as a dental nurse and, in 2005, qualified as a hygienist from Guy’s / King’s / St Thomas’ and since has been working in private practice in Canary Wharf and The City. Available on Mondays, Thursdays (until 7pm), Fridays and Saturdays, Ellie will ensure the standard of care, to which you have become accustomed, will be continued!

December 2006: i-teeth dental care wins ‘Best New Practice South East 2006’

The team of i-teeth dental care attended the Dentistry Awards ceremony in Leicester in December 2006 and were thrilled to win ‘Best New Practice South East 2006’. The judging panel of 16, who comprised eminent dentists and laypersons associated with the dental profession, based their decision on i-teeth dental care’s customer-focussed care. The award was presented by Roy Walker of TV’s Catchphrase in front of a 650-person audience, including other dental teams from around the UK. We are delighted with this award which now has pride of place in the practice, together with some photos of a very memorable evening.

September 2006: Hygienist services increased

Owing to overwhelming demand, our hygienist, Claire, has increased the number of days she works at i-teeth dentalcare. You will now be able to book your hygiene appointments on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Autumn 2006: Awards!

We are thrilled to announce we have again been short-listed for the Best New Practice category in the national Private Dentistry award. Further, we have also been short-listed for Best New Practice in the Dentistry award. The award ceremonies, at which the winners are announced, are, respectively, at the end of November and mid December 2006. We are immensely proud of our achievements and happy to be providing a service that meets the approval of both you, as our loyal supporters, and the profession as a whole.

April 2006: The new dental contract

As of 1 April 2006, the National Health Service introduced new dental contracts, significantly affecting the provision of National Health Service dentistry across England and Wales. The contract for i-teeth dental care enables us to treat less than 50 child patients within the NHS. It is our opinion that there is no fair selection process to determine who should or shouldn't receive NHS care from us and therefore we have been forced to withdraw completely from the NHS. We consider the dental care and attention of your children is of paramount importance to establish good preventive habits for life, so we have made it as affordable as possible: through the children's dental plan, at £3.50 per month, your little ones will receive 2 dental examinations and radiographs each year and any other treatment will be discounted by up to 50%. Sports' mouthguards will attract a discount of 15%.

February 2006: Launch of Dental Plans

By popular request, we have finally launched our payment plans, helping you to manage the costs of your dental needs, both the routine and the unexpected. Two plans are available for adults (according to your usual pattern of need) and another for children. A monthly plan payment covers the costs of your usual examination (including radiographs) and hygiene needs with any further treatment discounted by up to 15% (up to 50% for children). In addition, the plan provides worldwide accident and trauma insurance cover and compensation in the unfortunate event that oral cancer is diagnosed. Please ask for further details.

October 2005: Oral Surgeon, Kevin Magee joins the practice

It is our pleasure to welcome to our practice Kevin Magee BDS FDSRCS (Eng) whose oral surgical skills allow in-house placement of implant restorations and the extraction of wisdom teeth. On a referral basis, Kevin will also be able to provide oral surgery to patients of other dental practices on a referral basis.

September 2005: 'Best New Practice' award

We were thrilled to discover we had been shortlisted in the category of 'Best New Practice' for the prestigious UK-wide Private Dentistry awards, especially since we entered the competition only 3 months after opening. The winner will be announced at the award ceremony, held in London, on 25 November. Fingers are crossed!

7 April 2005: Open evening

We welcomed many of our local (and some not so local) dentist and specialist colleagues to our open evening when we had the opportunity to proudly show off our gleaming new practice. Our very discerning audience were 'wowed' by our vision that had finally become a reality.

29 March 2005: Grand opening

The months of planning, building work, deliberation over paint colours and choosing dental equipment was finally over: against all the odds, we opened our doors to the public for the first time, without a hitch and bang on schedule.