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In our latest blog post, dental nurse Mandy talks about her most rewarding moments at Woodborough House Dental Practice!

mandy on computer

I have now been working at Woodborough house for nearly four years.

I first started working with Sen on a Saturday morning.  This was a great way to get my feet through the door.

I enjoyed my Saturdays with Sen. It was especially nice to see how kind and calm he was with his patients and the staff.  Sen is everyone’s friend.

I will always remember the caring manner with which Sen treated a cerebral palsy patient.  The patient herself is very inspirational but she would agree that she isn’t the easiest of patients to treat due her involuntary movements and speech difficulty.  The patient and Sen managed to complete a whole course of treatment including crown work.  I can say without doubt that I shall always be proud to be involved with working with Sen during this time.

I am now working with Nick at the practice.

Anybody who knows me, inside of work and outside, will already know that I have been totally astounded by the treatment cases that I have worked on with Nick.  Before I started working with Nick I hadn’t really had any experience working with a prosthodontist and hadn’t appreciated how different it would be from general dentistry.   I can honestly say it’s the best job I have ever had.

Several cases and procedures stick in my mind when I think of working alongside Nick.  Firstly I will always remember how shocked I was when I first saw Nick carry out a surgical extraction.  The care and expertise was something I had never seen before.  During my career I have seen many extractions but none carried out to this level of care.  Nick will always take his time and has the greatest of patience to make sure as much bone as possible is preserved during extractions.

Nick has provided over 270 dental implants in the 2 ½ years that we have been working together (not including Harley Street). It is very rewarding to see how patients life can be changed from the treatment Nick provides.  Nick provides lots of amazing full mouth reconstructions that are fantastic to see. I really enjoy assisting with these procedures, however I will personally always have a soft spot for those patients who come to us who struggle wearing dentures. Denture wearing patients can have a simple treatment plan of 4 dental implants in the upper jaw and 4 dental implants in the lower jaw (sometimes less and sometimes more) all placed using guided surgery (key hole surgery) and have a locator denture fitted. They may even wish to have their dental implants supporting fixed bridge work. This is really life changing treatment.

Each of Nick’s cases are all slightly different but they all have the same outcome… very happy patients.  Nick is a very forward thinking dentist and will always push himself to get the best results for his patients.  It means so much to be able to recommend treatments to our patients knowing they will receive the best possible care.

Nick and I have developed a fantastic working relationship that has taken time, patience and understanding.  When I recently found out the Nick had asked for me to be entered in the private dentistry awards as the best DCP I felt truly honoured and valued to be part of the Woodborough House team.  Nick wrote a testimonial for me and even though Nick and Sarah are always very generous towards their staff and always give thanks, it was Nick’s testimonial that has been a true highlight in my working carrier.  It means so much to somebody like me to see my hard work recognised in this way by somebody else who also works extremely hard. :)  I am so touched by my testimonial that I have included it in my blog:

‘Mandy is my superstar nurse. She has the ‘heart of a lion’ and regularly goes far beyond the bounds of what you would expect in a nurse. Mandy not only does the regular things you would expect as a nurse, but she also supports me from an administration point of view and clinically as an auxiliary.

For example, Mandy writes all my letters for me to check before they are sent. These letters include ‘thank you for attending letters’, ‘letters to the referring dentist’, ‘letters to other specialists, or for referral’, ‘treatment plans/consent forms/estimates’, ‘end of treatment letters’ (to both the patient and referring dentist) and she sends the relevant animations to patients about treatments that they are having.

Mandy also answers emails or phone calls from patients. If it is complicated then she will book them in with me for a treatment discussion, but most of the time she can deal with these on her own.

One of the tremendous skills that Mandy has is that she becomes friends with the patient whilst still remaining professional. I think this is because it is easy for the patient to see that she really does care. This then allows us to approach patients to speak to other prospective patients about their personal experiences around treatment and surgery in particular, especially if they have fears or concerns.

Clinically Mandy supports me like no other nurse I have ever worked with (and I have worked with some great nurses)! She takes photos, x-rays (including CBCT scans), fits scanning templates, scans with the iTero (Invisalign, reference models and iRecords), checks fits of 3d printed surgical guides as well as being a superb surgical nurse.

Mandy also supports me with my role as an ITI study club director, as well as facilitating other dentists who want to come and watch us perform surgery.

Mandy will start early, stay late, work through lunch – whilst she still makes sure that somebody gets me lunch… I could go on and on…

However, probably the best way to illustrate her ‘heart of a lion’ character is to relate a situation where I turned up in Basel to give a presentation, having not been able to find the final photos of a case we had recently completed. I emailed Mandy to see if she knew where they were. She emailed them back to me that night and I did not think twice about it. I then got home and found out that Mandy, like me had not been able to find them. Mandy had, knowing that these photos were important, contacted the patient and went to her house and took the photos in the patient’s kitchen so she could send them to me, and all on her day off.  Now that is what I mean about Mandy Morris regularly going far beyond the bounds of what you would expect in a nurse.  Dental nursing is not a job for Mandy, it is a vocation! This is why I strongly feel that Mandy should win the award for Best DCP.”

(Dr Nick Fahey, Practice Owner & GDC Registered Specialist in Prosthodontics)

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