One year after taking ownership of the UK’s third largest dental group, Zurich-based Colosseum Dental Group unveils a £5M comprehensive modernisation programme focused on clinical excellence and best practice.

Southern Dental, the nation’s third largest chain of dentists, is now known as Colosseum Dental UK Ltd. The name change coincides with the first anniversary of Zurich-based Colosseum Dental's acquisition of Southern Dental, which made it not only Europe's fastest growing dental group, but also the only one with a network spanning the continent.

With a patient base in excess of 500,000, the majority of Colosseum's 80 practices in the UK will undergo an extensive refurbishment programme, introducing a new look and feel to waiting rooms with upgraded treatment areas and clinical facilities as part of a £5,000,000 investment in the company. Peter Keegans, CEO, explains, “Our new owners have a long-term, 20-year vision which is enabling us to invest in upgrading our clinics to be state-of-the-art practices offering the highest standards.” Colosseum Dental Group’s ambition is to be Europe’s leading dental provider within five years.

LOCAL PRACTICES SERVING THEIR COMMUNITY
One of the pillars of Colosseum’s recipe for success in the UK will be embedding each practice as a “good neighbour” in its local community. Peter continues, “We want to break with convention from other dental chains. Each of our 80 practices will be known by the local name patients have always referred to it. If, for example, ‘Hollybush Dental’ is how a practice has always been known colloquially, we've no intention of simply re-badging it as ‘Colosseum Dental’. In this way, each practice will retain its connection as an integral part of its community."

In addition to being a good neighbour, Colosseum has two other refreshingly simple cultural values; to be a provider of exceptional patient care and to be a great employer. As Peter explains, “Our name change marks a new era: a renewed energy and focus, an opportunity for cultural change and to align ourselves with the values of our European colleagues. Armed with a long-term vision, we can now invest in our practices and staff with confidence, knowing our patients will be the ultimate beneficiaries. Everyone wins.”

EUROPEAN SCOPE FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PATIENT CARE
Being part of a European group means dentists have the chance to provide best practice based on the ability to observe long-term clinical outcomes in a huge, European-wide patient base. Treatment protocols, guidelines and KPIs are currently being developed across the group to provide highly informed patient care, and present the best possible treatment options to patients. Ravi Rattan, Clinical Director at Colosseum Dental UK, who joined in 2016, is excited to be part of these changes: “At Colosseum Dental, we’re committed to raising clinical standards and offering more advanced treatment options and procedures to our patients. Our new specialist referral centres in Kettering and Kingston offer private as well as NHS treatments such as orthodontics, implants and facial aesthetics. Patients there will benefit from 3D CBCT scanners to enable better, safer treatment planning. Having new investment means we can continue to set up such centres: Our European colleagues are highly experienced in managing large referral centres, and we are learning from their success.”

The group’s aim is for no differences to exist between treatments available at, say, a practice in Switzlerand, and those available at one in Southern England. Lars Armbäck is Chief Dentist at Colosseum Dental Group. Armed with 30 years’ general practice and a special interest in prosthetics, implants, quality and treatment strategy, his focus is on best practice, dentist development and quality assurance. He’s excited by the addition of the 80 English clinics, noting, “Patients everywhere should be able to benefit from digital technologies that enable them to make informed choices about their care. Hence, as a group, we recently chose to invest in intraoral scanners for all patients, and our size means we can negotiate to help keep diagnostic and treatment prices affordable.” He adds, “Dentists at our UK practices will benefit from committees we have set up to examine best practice in treatment planning and workflow. With time, we’ll be able to compare patient outcomes across Europe, and thereby identify best treatment strategies and best practice overall. It’s this type of sharing which sets us apart from any of our competitors.”

COMMITTED TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Career choices at various levels are being made more flexible, in line with changing lifestyle requirements such as increased female and part time dentists in post. Samaneh Nezamivand-Chegini, a dentist who practises in Central London, having joined in 2012, now sits on the Clinical Board. She says, “It’s great to see my suggestions have been noted, despite my being relatively newly qualified. Peter [Keegans] and his team have listened and acted, which is in turn inspiring my clinical colleagues. On a personal level, I’m being supported to further my career and income via training in implantology.”

Sharyn Wilson, HR Director at Colosseum Dental UK, notes, “Our improved ways of working and communicating are being appreciated by all our staff, from receptionists to dental specialists.” Career progression for non-clinical staff is also being strengthened. For example, the new Advanced Treatment Co-ordinator has progressed from earlier roles as nurse, Practice Manager, then Resourcer. As a sign of its commitment to professional development, Colosseum Dental UK will hold its first Annual Conference on 20th April, where keynote speakers will include Seema Sharma, an expert in transforming dental practices, Joe Bhat, a Fellow of the International Team for Implantology and Jas Gill, who was voted in at No.12 in the Top 50 most important people in UK Dentistry.

ABOUT COLOSSEUM DENTAL UK LIMITED
Colosseum Dental UK Limited is the third largest chain of dental practices in the UK, with 80 clinics spanning 19 counties. The company supplies high quality general dental care, as well as specialist services for NHS and private patients. It has more than 900 employees and Associates, including over 250 dental professionals, serving more than 500,000 patients. Its mission is to be the ‘best in class’ dental group in the South of England by providing modern, quality dentistry services for the benefit of patients, dentists, employees, shareholders and striving for continuous growth and excellence. www.colosseumdental.co.uk

Below you will find some of the top news and blogs posted on GDPUK, week commencing 6th November.

1. At LMC Conference, doctors will vote on GPs leaving the NHS https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/2771-gps-to-vote-on-leaving-nhs

2. BDIA takes initiative towards Brexit https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/2776-bdia-leads-initiative-on-brexit

3 .MPs debate child oral health https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/2778-mps-debate-child-oral-health

4. @DentistGoneBadd posts a serious blog https://www.gdpuk.com/news/bloggers/entry/2037-dentistry-is-not-immune-from-harbouring-sexual-abuse-we-must-be-vigilant-too

5. Portsmouth graduate wins student of the year award https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/2780-portsmouth-graduate-wins-student-of-the-year-award

6. Coca-Cola ‘threatened to cut investment’ over sugar tax https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/2779-coca-cola-threatened-to-cut-investment-over-sugar-tax

7. Enough is enough: BDA demolish case for ARF levels https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/2770-enough-is-enough-bda-demolish-case-for-arf-levels

The British Dental Association and CloserStill Media have announced a major new collaboration, that will see the British Dental Conference and Dentistry Show launched in May next year.

The new collaboration of the BDA’s British Dental Conference and Exhibition, and CloserStill Media’s Dentistry Show, will take place on 18 to 19 May 2018 at the Birmingham NEC and will be the undisputed leader in dental events.

The BDA Conference & Exhibition has been running for over 100 years and is the BDA’s annual flagship event for its members and the wider dental profession. The Dentistry Show, will have been running for 11 years in 2018. The new event will now become the key date in all dental professionals’ diaries with over 10,800 visitors attending the two day event.

The new event will be free of charge and open to all.

BDA Chief Executive Peter Ward said:

“We’re committed to offering our members and this profession the biggest and best event in the dental calendar. This collaboration with our friends at CloserStill Media will take our landmark event to the next level.

“Our British Dental Conference and Dentistry Show is now the one date every dentist needs in their diary. And we’ve opened the doors to the whole profession, to give them all access to the latest innovation, education and quality CPD.

“Our members are our number one priority. On top of one unmissable national conference, we are working to ensure they have access to more exclusive events in more locations across the UK.”

Alex Harden, Event Director of The Dentistry Show said:

“This is an exciting investment for us all. Between us, the team now running The Dentistry Show and The BDA Conference have been responsible for running some of the UK’s fastest growing events over the last two decades. Our combined experience, sector knowledge and significant commercial and marketing resources will be focused on delivering for both exhibitors and the audiences for these powerful brands.” 

Patient Plan Direct has been awarded Outstanding Business of the Year (under 25 employees) at the 2016 Dental Industry awards, hosted at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kennington earlier this month.

A judging panel of leading industry clinicians and figures, chaired by Dr David Houston, selected patient payment plan provider – Patient Plan Direct, as the winning company from a wide array of entrants.

The judging panel, which included; Julian English, James Goolnik, Peter Rees, Chris Orr and others, selected Patient Plan Direct as the company that demonstrated, throughout 2016, the strongest development, growth, competitive edge, staff loyalty, culture and first-class service.

Pictured Above:- Simon Reynolds and the team at PPD receiving the award for Outstanding Business of the Year

Simon Reynolds, commercial director of Patient Plan Direct, commented “We have worked hard throughout 2016, expanding our team and further enhancing our patient payment plan solution whilst maintaining our low-cost fee structure – enabling practices to retain more of their payment plan income.

“Cost management is an important focus for many dental practices in consideration of uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the rising costs associated with running a modern day dental practice. As a low-cost plan provider, PPD meets this market demand and ensures we have a strong competitive edge, whilst other providers are pressured to justify the value of their fees. 

“I’d like to extend my congratulations to the rest of the dental industry award finalists and winners, as well as a big thank you to all of the Patient Plan Direct team for their hard work and commitment as we look towards a highly successful 2017.”

Patient Plan Direct is a highly cost effective dental plan provider embracing 21st century web-based technology to offer a sophisticated solution to running practice-branded dental plans.

Thanks to an administration fee of £1.20 per patient per month (including A&E cover and VAT), Patient Plan Direct often proves to be 2-3 times more cost effective than working with other plan providers.

A highly-experienced team has helped over 400 practices nationwide either; launch a dental plan for the first time, utilise a plan to convert from NHS to Private, or transfer from another plan provider to make huge cost savings!

Web: www.patientplandirect.co.uk

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: 0844 848 6888

Details of the forthcoming GDC hearing are available at:

https://www.gdc-uk.org/Membersofpublic/Hearings/Charges%202015/TAHIR%2018-22%20Jan%202016%20Smithfield%204%20(FINAL).pdf

Further details of the BDIA’s CSIDI activity can be found at:

http://www.bdia.org.uk/device-reporting.html

The British Dental Industry Association (BDIA) is a non-profit making organisation which means that any surplus funds generated from its activities are ploughed back into dentistry either directly or by supporting and working with other professional dental bodies.

For more information please contact Edmund Proffitt on 01494 781183 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Prestige Dental is delighted to announce the appointment of Jennifer Ball as its Product Specialist for the M62 corridor and surrounding areas.

Never one to rest on her laurels, Jennifer, who has an extensive dental nursing background, is in the process of rolling out an exciting programme of learning opportunities in individual practices.

Whether lunchtime, first thing or after the practice closes is best for you, armed with sandwiches and in the space of just one hour Jennifer can provide invaluable information on products such as ACTIVA™ BioACTIVE, as well as vacuum forming and Medentika’s implant range – obligation free.

Speaking about her new role, Jennifer commented: ‘I am really looking forward to meeting customers – new and old – and learning what support I  can offer individual dental practices so that dentists and their teams can remain focused on what they do best – delivering excellent patient care.’
 

To make an appointment for Jennifer to visit your practice or for more information, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 01274 721567.

We have recently created a Facebook page for GDPUK, where we aim to publish news, blogs, articles and forum posts which are focused on UK Dentistry. We realise the creation of this page is a number of years late but it is better late than never!

Like all digital publishers, we use social media extensively to share articles and blogs. The GDPUK Forum facebook page will be another medium we will use to share our opinion and information on all things Dental.

You will find the Facebook page here - www.facebook.com/GDPUKforum

If you are interested in having the latest dental news from GDPUK appear on your Facebook newsfeed please “like” the page.

We will continue to update and improve the page as much as we can.

Please share this page with friends and dental colleagues. Basically anyone you believe would be interested in reading dental news....

The GDPUK forum remains free to join, you can register here.

Thanks for your help and sharing the message with the whole UK dental community.

Cheers :)

Carestream Dental has announced the appointment of Lisa Ashby as President of the global company.

Having fulfilled a wide variety of leadership roles throughout her career, Lisa brings with her more than 26 years of corporate business expertise. She has extensive experience in all aspects including management, marketing, sales and operations, and has worked with a large product portfolio ranging from laboratory diagnostics to surgical devices and critical care solutions.

Carestream Dental’s commitment to excellent customer service and product innovation ensures it remains at the forefront of the dental profession. To find out about the cutting-edge solutions and services available, contact the team today.

For more information, contact Carestream Dental on 0800 169 9692 or visit www.carestreamdental.co.uk

Mike Cann, Managing Director of Septodont Limited, has been elected President of the British Dental Industry Association (BDIA).

Mike, who has 30 years of experience in the industry, comments, “I am delighted to have been elected as the new President of the BDIA and look forward to working closely with my fellow Councillors and the staff and members of the Association to build on the strong leadership that the organisation provides.”

He adds, “I am particularly keen to encourage everyone involved in dentistry to maximise the benefit derived from attending the UK’s premier dental event, BDIA Dental Showcase, and to ensure that the Association is leading the industry from the front, while delivering the best possible services and initiatives for all our members”.

Mike was elected at the BDIA’s recent AGM held at Danesfield House, Marlow and takes over from outgoing President, Terry Porter. Sonia Tracey, Managing Director of W & H UK was appointed as Vice- President, and Peter Gowers, Managing Director of Panadent, was re-elected as the Association’s Honorary Treasurer.

We thought we would reminisce over the popular dental news stories published by GDPUK in 2013. Overall in 2013, we have published 286 different news stories.

We have focused on the articles which as well as having a large number of hits, they also make our top ten because they caught the imagination of the forum and the wider dental community. It is unsurprising that the majority of the articles chosen for the top ten, are an indication of ongoing issues, politics and controversies in UK dentistry that are likely to rumble on till 2014 and beyond....

1.       Olympic Health Survey – news story published on the surprisingly poor oral health of Olympic Athletes - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1430-olympic-dental-problems-revealed

2.       Problems at the BDA – An example of a story that caused pages of debate on the forum pages and will there be more to come?  - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1388-bda-to-make-staff-redundant

3.       NHS / Private Gaming – Another extremely popular / contentious issue on the GDPUK forum – This news item was about a dentist who got struck off for “gaming” https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1335-dentist-struck-off-for-gaming

4.       Teeth Whitening - A number of articles published on the issue, something that is still happening illegally, will we see this subject reappear in 2014? https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1303-gdc-stance-on-whitening-upheld & https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1292-more-moves-to-eradicate-illegal-tooth-whitening & https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1230-stop-illegal-whitening-debates-at-the-dentistry-show

5.       NHS Pilot Scheme – This is an area we will all be watching in 2014, the direction of NHS Dentistry is still unclear and will lead to continued debate next year - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1210-shortlist-for-new-dental-pilot-practices-announced

6.       Corporate Dentistry – Corporate Dentistry continues to dominate the landscape in UK Dentistry, next year it is expected that supermarkets will look to expand their dental coverage. Oasis Dental Care sold for £185m - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1256-oasis-dental-care-sold-for-185m

7.       Direct Access – An area of dentistry that is still being understood and digested but the BDA’s response was strong - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1254-direct-access-decision-misguided-says-bda

8.       HTM01-05 amended – https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1259-2013-version-of-htm01-05-published

9.       Dentist Commit Suicide – A topic that unfortunately does not go away, with a number of recent cases being in the news - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1299-bda-calls-for-inquiry-into-dentist-s-suicide

10.   Dental Graduates – It was confirmed that UK Graduates would be given preference for Foundation Training – Common Sense Prevailed - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1381-uk-graduates-to-be-given-preference-for-foundation-training

Thanks for having a look at our top ten news stories published by GDPUK in 2013. Next year we would expect to see similar topics reappear with many issues in UK Dentistry still to be resolved. Watch this space for further GDPUK Exclusives!

Please let us know if you think we have missed important dental news from 2013?

What do you expect to see in the dental news in 2014? Predictions welcome...

On a lighter note, dentist Abi Sampa who was one of the stars of The Voice is still pursuing her singing career. Story can be found here and on twitter @Abi_Sampa