Get To Know Our Dentists – Part 1 of 5
As a dental student, I showed a lot of promise and dedication to my extra-curricular activities, and less to my dental career. In retrospect, it was probably touch-and-go as to whether the Dublin Dental Hospital was willing to unleash me on an unsuspecting world. Fortunately for me, after a few missed attempts, the dean finally relented; most likely out of a combination of resignation and dejection.
Sadly, I am now much more grown up & very much enjoy my dental learning; I go to far more lectures now than I did when I was a student!
Helen and I partnered up to create Portobello Dental Clinic in 2004, having both previously worked in different areas of the UK when we qualified. We had experienced life in underfunded NHS practices, and decided from the outset that we wanted to work together in an environment that focused on patient care and that fostered successful treatment outcomes. We share management duties; I look after accounts and invoicing, and Helen manages staff.
As Portobello Dental Clinic is a general dental practice, we can be faced with anything on any given day, but I have a special interest in replacing missing teeth with dental implants. I recently completed a year-long Masterclass in Munich with world renowned Professors Otto Zuhr and Markus Hürzeler on the subject of mirco-surgical technique, a kind of “pinhole” surgery. This has revolutionised my approach to implant dentistry, making patient recovery quick and painless. I am continuing my studies in implant and regenerative dentistry with further specialisation courses in Berlin and Hamburg, one week every few months, finishing in 2021.
My nurse, Izabella and I both like to work long hours; typically 8:00am to 8:00pm three to four days a week, with an hour for lunch. Our day starts with a morning huddle to discuss our treatments for the day, and for Deirdre, our manager, to talk to us about any new patients’ particular needs.
This is a really exciting time to be practising dentistry, as the explosion in digital technology has opened up a raft of new possibilities. Teeth can be “printed” in minutes, smiles can be designed digitally and surgical cases can be planned to an accuracy of 0.2mm, making outcomes safer and more predictable. It’s my firm belief that we have an obligation to our patients to keep up to date and offer them the very best treatments available today, so that procedures which traditionally would have induced “the fear” can now be completed predictably and painlessly.
But I’m not totally consumed by my passion for drilling holes in people. On my less diligent days, I enjoy squash, water sports, or torturing my long-suffering wife and dogs with poor musical skills on a very loud piano. Which reminds me, it needs tuning…
Sensible Nick
Less sensible Nick….
