New Patient Experience
As a potential new patient, you probably have some questions about what to expect from your New Patient Experience appointment. We’ve put together a brief overview to help:
- Your first stage is a FREE informal chat with our experienced patient care coordinator, over a cup of (sugar free) tea in a quiet, confidential and relaxing environment within the practice. There is no obligation to go any further after this stage and no pressure. Our patient coordinator’s job is to find out about you as a person, about your dental needs and about your previous history of dentistry. You can ask as many questions as you like with none of the time pressures that may be experienced within a standard dental appointment. She will answer all your questions and concerns at that stage, but she won’t be able to examine you clinically or offer you a specific diagnosis or treatment plan. Our main patient coordinator, Sue Sketchley is also one of our practice managers, so she is very knowledgeable with 35 years of experience in dentistry. If you want to explore things further after this chat you’ll be given some paperwork to fill in (medical forms, questionnaires etc.) and you’ll be offered a (payable) appointment for a consultation with Practice Owner, Dr. Arjun Kachhala. Our feedback consistently shows that the involvement of a patient coordinator at the first stage is very popular, it helps us to form a closer relationship and it also helps us to ensure that we can meet all you needs and expectations properly.
- You’ll then be invited back to have a number of detailed photographs taken of your mouth, so that we have as much information as possible prior to meeting Dr. Kachhala
- Your New Patient Experience with Dr. Kachhala is next and it is an appointment like no other in terms of the scope and depth it covers, so expect it to last for at least 3 hours.
- After your New Patient Experience, Dr Kachhala will put together a detailed treatment plan aimed at stabilising your long-term dental health. You will leave the appointment with a clear vision of which treatments would best suit you and why.
To book a FREE chat with the most excellent and experienced Patient Care Coordinator at Kenilworth Dental Practice click here
Our feedback has shown us that you will experience the most thorough dental examination ever, and we’ll get to know each other as people very well by the time you leave.
There is no pressure for you to proceed with treatment. We won’t overwhelm you or use pushy sales techniques. You will simply leave the appointment feeling more knowledgeable, relaxed and happy about what dentistry can offer you, now and in the future.
We will be honest and clear and offer you all appropriate treatment options that are available on the NHS as well as what is available Privately
If you do decide to proceed with treatment, we do offer interest-free affordable monthly payments to help you manage costs and budget effectively.
A full written treatment quote will be given to you before you make any decisions.
The cost of this 3 hour (private assessment and advice) experience starts from £199.
Our feedback has shown that patients value the opportunity to talk to a highly respected, experienced and thorough dentist about how they feel about their teeth and smile, and what they would change if they could. You may even come away from this appointment thinking about treatment possibilities you haven’t considered or known about in the past.
To book a FREE chat with one of our Patient Coordinators click here.
Our main aim is to assess the true reasons for any historic dental problems you’ve experienced by looking at the whole mouth in much greater detail than ever before, and not just 1 or 2 teeth at a time as is often the case in dentistry. For example, if you have missing teeth causing you to chew mainly on one side then this may be causing problems elsewhere in the mouth, such as fillings that are frequently breaking and you may not be aware of these reasons. Or you may be clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth, causing regular headaches as well as severe tooth wear over time and you may not be aware why. Arjun’s philosophy is based on the belief that most long term dental problems like frequent infections or breakages can be properly resolved by looking really deeply at all the possible factors that might be causing them and then working to eliminate them!
As discussed, the investigation will involve going into as much detail as possible- for example looking at how much sugar is in your diet (a high level of dietary sugar might be causing cavities leading to regular infections, abscesses and toothaches). It will also involve looking at how thoroughly or how often you brush and floss your teeth (gum disease causes loose teeth and bad breath).
Arjun believes that when all the factors causing long term problems like this are methodically assessed in detail and then resolved, you should only need to re-attend for a check-up once every 12-15 months after any treatment is complete, as your mouth should be more stable and therefore far more predictable.
The ‘Long Term Stabilisation’ philosophy is designed to properly diagnose the main risks in your mouth once and for all and then to try to solve them all in a logical order. Once completed, it minimises the chance of unexpected problems occurring ongoing. It’s a philosophy that encourages you to look at the long term picture of your mouth (a preventive approach) rather than only fixing problems as they arise on a tooth to tooth basis. The latter is a ‘reactive’ short term approach which Dr Kachhala encourages all his patients to try to move away from as it doesn’t give you control over the future health of your mouth and it means you still have to attend a dental check up every 6 months or so.
So, when you choose to become a private patient at Kenilworth Dental Practice, we’ll invite you to attend a dedicated New Patient Experience with Dr Kachhala. At the end of this lengthy appointment, Dr Kachhala will offer you a detailed treatment plan, which will aim to stabilise your teeth, fillings, any gaps, gum health, any infections as well as your bite and anything else that might be causing ongoing unexpected problems. With this treatment plan, you will have a clear vision of which treatments best suit you, in what order and why. After the plan is complete and once your mouth is stable, you should only need to re-attend for a check-up once every 12-15 months, because your mouth will be more stable and predictable and you will be in far greater control. You’ll still need to look after your teeth and gums thoroughly at home to maintain this stability and we will show you how.
You’ll leave the appointment with a lot of information about how to prevent problems in the future and you’ll be in much more control over the future health of your mouth. The new patient experience is a fantastic opportunity to ask as many questions as you like about any aspect of your dental care and oral health. Often, when patients ask us for cosmetic treatment or dental implants, we find on examination that we need to first stabilise the mouth by offering a stabilisation treatment plan before we can go any further.