Our friendly team look forward to welcoming you to the practice. We understand that visiting the dentist can be a daunting experience for many patients and that it is common for patients to describe themselves as being ’scared’ of the dentist, often as a result of negative experiences in the past. It is one of our core aims to turn this thought on its head and to try and make your visits something positive, something that dare we say you even look forward to!

At your first visit your dentist will discuss any concerns you have or any dental anxieties so we can plan how best to make your dental care as comfortable as possible. We will then discuss and listen to any specific concerns you have with your teeth, your oral health or cosmetic concerns. A thorough oral health assessment will be carried out to include:

• A screening of your oral soft tissues, including checking for signs of oral cancer
• An assessment of the jaw joints and chewing muscles, if appropriate
• A gentle examination of your teeth and existing fillings and crowns
• A check of the gum health and the support of the teeth
• Dental x-rays, if appropriate, to look for less obvious problems
• Close-up photographs or a digital scan of your teeth so we can show you your teeth in detail and to help monitor for changes over the years.

We hope to find that you have a nice healthy mouth. However, if we do find any problems, we will go through the different options available to treat them and discuss the benefits, risks and costs of each option. We will make a recommendation on what treatment option is ideal and what we would do if we were in your shoes. However, we respect our patients autonomy and will always support whichever treatment option you go for, even if it is that is to have no treatment. You will be given a printed plan with the different treatment options, and given time to consider them.

Hygienist

We believe that prevention is better than cure and it is considered best practice to have regular hygienist appointments for professional cleaning of soft and hardened plaque (tartar) and personalised feedback on how to care better for your teeth and gums at home. We will agree together how often your routine examination and hygienist appointments will be. For most patients this will be every 6 or 12 months.

We ask our patients to:

• Please complete the medical and dental history form prior to your appointment. This will be emailed to you.
• Kindly contact us with at least 24 hours’ notice should you need to rearrange your appointment. This allows us to offer the appointment to another patient who may be in urgent need of our care or waiting for a cancellation. Late cancellation or failure to attend an appointment may result in a charge. Please see our appointment management and cancellation policy.
• Please arrive on time for your appointment in order to help us run in a timely manner. Whilst we always strive to see everyone at the planned appointment time, sometimes due to unforeseen treatment needs of a patient before you, you may be called in late. If we are delayed, we will aim to keep you notified, and offer you a drink if there is time.
• Let us know how we are doing – we like to hear your feedback so that we can do our best to make sure our patients feel well looked after, and so we can continue to improve the services we offer. There is an anonymous written feedback box at reception or alternatively email our practice manager: manager@triangledental.co.uk.
• Recommend us to your friends and family if you are happy with your experience at Triangle Dental. We also appreciate receiving reviews on Google and Facebook.