Ambitious young associate dentist, Kamran Ahmed, tells Dentistry.co.uk how his practice partnering with Dentex is offering career development opportunities.
As soon as I graduated, I started developing my interest in aesthetic treatments, veneers, smile makeovers and improving smiles. Via courses I’ve acquired knowledge and experience in composite restorations, anterior composites, orthodontics and whitening. I’ve been able to achieve great results and seen significant improvements for patients combining edge bonding, orthodontics and whitening.
So far, all the courses I’ve attended have been through my own means, but one of the benefits of Dentex coming into the practice is that opportunities have already opened up to me. I’m now looking into implant training and Jason Bedford (Dentex clinical director) has already mentioned the potential for me to get onto an implant dentistry course through Dentex.
When the Dentex team visited the practice, it was clear there would be great opportunities available to me in terms of education, peer review sessions and teaching.
Preconceptions
I’ve worked here at The Smile Boutique for about two and a half years; I found out about the change of ownership just under a year ago. Having worked at another corporate practice in the past I did have my preconceptions and was a little worried. In that practice there were too many layers of management and introducing new things or getting something changed would take a long time. I found implementing change difficult including the provision of new treatments, as there was a lack of support and required a bit of a fight even though the practice itself would benefit.
I was obviously afraid that Dentex would be similar; previously I was able to get backing for something new here either from Cheryl the practice manager and/or Phil the principal and could implement it pretty much straight away.
Joining Dentex
The communication regarding our integration into Dentex was very transparent and we were told if and when things were going to happen. We were able to meet some of the Dentex team early on and that was helpful for me and the practice team to get a feel for what was in store. They were able to give examples of how Dentex had helped support and improve practices in the past. This included how they had developed their approach based on feedback, how digital workflows had been introduced and how it would be rolled out to others in the future.
I could see very quickly there was potential for us to grow. At the time, I had been thinking the practice could benefit from certain enhancements and had been making such suggestions, but it’s difficult to do so without support. With Dentex coming in that was made easier and I could see their thought processes were in line with what I wanted for my career and how we saw the practice could be developed.
Positive change
I would say overall the change for the practice has been very positive; it has brought greater opportunities for me and my career path.
The practice has already invested in a scanner, which has made my Invisalign workflow much better, and offered an improved experience for our patients – more comfortable visits and better fit on restorations. We are also installing air-con ahead of the summer, which is a great way to show the patients we are investing to make their dental visits more comfortable. We also now have plans in place to create a seminar room in the practice for hosting courses and events.
I have many friends in dentistry who are working for other corporates and I can say that in comparison, Dentex has clearer support behind the clinicians. Peers have described feeling like they were just a number, with the main aim being to hit targets without investment into the clinical team.
Dentex have been very supportive of the practice, as well as of me personally. I’m looking forward to the future and towards the possibility of investing in my own practice alongside Dentex at some point.
To find out more about partnering with Dentex, please email or visit the website.
Email: [email protected].
Website: www.dentexhealth.co.uk.
