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In this week’s Out of office, Mark Skimming discusses the importance of time out of the practice with his family to unwind, re-energise and refocus.

Please introduce yourself

My name is Mark Skimming, I am a married father of three.

I am a dentist now focusing on running a company, which currently has seven practices across central Scotland. We’re looking to expand throughout Scotland and into the north of England.

My career started after graduating in 2005 from Glasgow University. After this I continued to work around Glasgow.

My head was turned towards private care whilst completing my MSc in restorative dentistry with the FGDP. Through this desire to work in private practice I opened a squat practice in 2009.

Over 10 years the company continued to grow to the seven practices we have now. Most of my time is now spent running the company and supporting the clinical team.… Read the rest

Missed out on this week’s dental news? No problem, here’s what happened over the past seven days…

Female representation in the dental profession

Despite making up at least half of the profession, representation of female dentists as speakers, board members and social media influencers remains stubbornly low. Is it because female dentists don’t want to put themselves in these positions? Or is there a more serious problem within the profession? Jayne Sproson gives us her thoughts and includes some powerful anonymous quotes and experiences from those working in dentistry.

Dental labs need immediate help and support to avoid ‘catastrophic’ losses

Dental labs are often the forgotten team member. And this has certainly been the case during the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve Taylor describes dental labs’ perilous position as ‘catastrophic’. If our dental labs don’t receive some support/work soon, practices may well have to start looking abroad for their crowns and … Read the rest

Today Jana Denzel speaks to Robbie Hughes about his journey in dentistry, the concept behind Dental Excellence and Millionaire Smile and what skills you need to be successful.

Dr Robbie Hughes qualified from the University of Liverpool in 2008 with honours and an array of prestigious awards for distinction grades and exceptional clinical performance.

Very early in his career, Robbie set his sights on promoting excellence within the private dental sector. With a very special interest in cosmetic dentistry.

How many years of general dentistry do you need before you can switch into cosmetic dentistry?

You need to focus on the quality of what you’re doing and the speed at which you’re doing it too.

The best way to do this is through a VT scheme. Then follow it up with a well-supported practice and a good principal.

For me, this starts with mixed dentistry and then slowly moving to … Read the rest

Fewer patients are receiving treatment in NHS dental practices, according to newly-released statistics.

Data shows dental teams carried out 38.4 million courses of NHS treatment in 2019-20.

But this marks a 3.36% drop compared to the previous year.

This is despite a jump in the number of dentists carrying out activity. Statistics show 24,684 dentists performed NHS activity in 2019-20, an increase of 139 when compared to the previous year.

Regional disparities

Additionally, the data also exposes regional disparities. For example, 65 NHS clinical commissioning groups saw the number of dentists decrease over the past year.

And seven of these saw dentist numbers decline by 20% or more when compared to 2018-19.

Between 31 March 2019 and 31 March 2020, 58% of children had attended an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months. This figure stood at 49.6% for adults over the last two years.

The British Dental Association (BDA) … Read the rest

One in five female NHS employees said they did not have access to the necessary PPE during the pandemic.

This is according to a new report that looks into the impact of the coronavirus crisis on women working in the NHS.

The data, carried out by the NHS Confederation and the Health and Care Women Leaders Network (HCWLN), points out that more than three quarters of the NHS workforce is made up of women.

Emotional and physical health

The survey found that almost 75% of participants reported that their role had caused them a greater negative impact than usual on their emotional wellbeing.

Additionally, more than half reported a negative impact on their physical health.

For those continuing to work in the health and social care sector, respondents said conflicting messages from the government and trusts have added to stress. Those in leadership roles also reported worry for their … Read the rest

New infection control guidance has been issued for healthcare settings in the UK, including dental practices. 

In the latest information from the NHS and Public Health England (PHE), dentistry has been labelled a ‘medium-risk pathway’ in the face of COVID-19.

Definitions of this area are any care facility where:

• Triaged/clinically assessed individuals are asymptomatic and are waiting a COVID-19 test result with no known recent COVID-19 contact
• Testing is not required or feasible on asymptomatic individuals and infectious status is unknown
• Asymptomatic individuals decline testing.

Other examples of ‘medium-risk pathways’ include GP surgeries, non-elective admissions, primary care facilities and care homes.

Same PPE guidance

Additionally, the personal protective equipment (PPE) requirement for staff in high and medium-risk pathways has not changed. An FFP3 or hood should still be worn by dental professionals carrying out AGPs.

Requirements for environmental cleaning and disinfection include:

• Increased frequency of decontamination for all reusable non-invasive

Two high profile and highly experienced advocates for community water fluoridation are now joining the British Fluoridation Society.

Alan Johnson, former Labour MP and a Secretary of State for Health, is vice president and Barry Cockcroft, former chief dental officer for England, is joining the BFS council.

Both have history championing the fight for fluoridation in parliament. Alan Johnson supported the proposal to introduce it in Hull. While Barry worked tirelessly as CDO to introduce it in Southampton.

‘Alan joins a long line of high profile social justice campaigners who have added their name to a BFS vice president role,’ chair of the BFS, Steve Bedser, says.

‘Both Alan and Barry have a great record as water fluoridation advocates. I am confident that both will be great assets to the society.’

Quickest and easiest way to improve our health

Jo Churchill MP called on dentists and dental professionals to back … Read the rest