Through the Keyhole—Surgery: Home

ABOUT THE DENTIST

Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about what made you pursue a career in dentistry.

I’m Jamie Bisset, Clinical Director of Brite Dental Paisley. I qualified 11 years ago and worked as an associate in a range of practices, from very deprived to more Private based clinics, before settling as the owner of my current practice. I am also a Vocational Trainer to new dental graduates.

As a teenager, I was torn between following a career in medicine or dentistry. After finding out doctors had to work weekends and evenings, I decided this would not suit my envisaged future fantastic social life!

While this is hardly a good basis for a career choice I feel I should thank my naive/idiot self, as I get great satisfaction from my what I do.

If you hadn’t become a dentist, what job do you think you would have had?

I’ve asked myself this a lot over the years, (usually after a day of double bookings) but, despite the challenges, I still can’t think of a single job I would be more suited for, or get more enjoyment from.

Which university did you study at, and what qualifications do you have?

I studied at the University of Glasgow, which has maintained its excellent reputation as one of the leading dental undergraduate programmes in the UK. This isn’t just because the West of Scotland provides such excellent patient cases due to our notorious penchant for Irn Bru and all things sweet. After this, I achieved the MJDF with the Royal College of Surgeons and plan to do a Masters in Restorative dentistry with them. However, running a practice is leaving me very little time to do this!

What are your particular interests and skills in dentistry?

I like the variance in my day and would never fully specialise one route. However, I have developed a keen interest in digital dentistry, utilising it for smile design, short-term orthodontics and same day restorations. I’m looking forward to integrating it into implant restoration also.

Who would you say has had the biggest influence in your career?

Dental
Jamie Newlands, co-owner of the Glasgow Berkeley Clinic and co-founder of Brite is my biggest influence. He pioneered so much with digital dentistry and his experience as a mentor was invaluable. He had a huge part in helping build the new clinic. His vision has made it a pleasure to come to, as a clinician, or a patient. More importantly, he helped me broaden my horizons as to what a person can achieve.

His enthusiasm was infectious and changed my life. Jamie Newlands very sadly passed away this year and has left a huge hole in a lot of peoples lives. I will be forever in his debt, and forever grateful for the chance to have met him as a good friend and colleague.

Non-dental
A combination of my parents and my wife, Lisa. I was brought up to have a good work ethic, and I was pushed to achieve the best grades I could so it would give me a springboard to other opportunities. Lisa has always given me the right advice, and if I ever run into difficulties, I know she will be the one I can turn to help me make the right decision.

What is your favourite procedure to carry out?

RCT upper left 8 with sclerosed canals in a patient with a gag reflex. Apart from that, I love minimal veneer preparation and smile design. Incorporating patient expectations, wax-ups, stents, guide preps and fine detail work is demanding, but an extremely rewarding challenge.

What could you not work without?

My team! If you don’t have a good group of staff to support you and take care of your patients, you will struggle. We all work in tandem to ensure people have a great visit from walking in the door, to when they leave.

Are you involved in any organisations or societies?

I sit on the Local dental committee for Gwent and am a member of the ADI and BACD. I am also on the committee of the make a dentist foundation. I do try my best to get involved with anything as often as I can.

What are your interests outside of dentistry?

They used to be travelling the world and finding amazing places to eat, as my wife and I love good food. However, with 2 toddlers at home, my pastimes currently are:

1. Catching diseases from their nursery
2. Sleeping (attempting to)
3. Peppa Pig

What do you think is the biggest problem or challenge in dentistry today?

The fear of GDC censure, patient complaints, and over-regulation in the NHS, are strangling good dentistry. I feel it leads to people treating defensively rather than appropriately, huge levels of anxiety in clinicians, and is a major contributory factor in dentist burnout.

What’s the biggest advancement you have seen in dentistry in your career?

The ability to produce high-quality, aesthetically superior, indirect restorations on the same day, using scanners and digital pathways, seems light years away from the conventional techniques I practised as a Vocational Trainee.

What would you like to see change in dentistry in the next 10 years?

I would like to see the technological advancements noted above, incorporated in some way to NHS dentistry. The gulf in what is achievable seems to be growing and I want more people to benefit from what we, as professionals, can offer.

Describe the most successful or rewarding experience in your professional life.

Right now the most rewarding experience is directing the new practice. The combination of supporting dentists, therapists and my Vocational Trainee, coupled with the admin and business side of dentistry, make for busy days but immensely satisfying weeks.

What is your favourite film?

It’s got to be Goodfellas, maybe I want to be a mafia Don instead of a dentist after all.

What type of music do you listen to?

A huge variation, from Outkast and Radiohead to ear-blistering techno. Needless to say, I have fights every day with my nurse about the surgery playlist.

ABOUT THE TEAM

We have a mix of 5 dentists and 4 therapists. Interests range from clear aligner therapy, Cfast, Cerec restorations, smile design, facial aesthetics and implant restoration.

How many other members do you have in your dental team, and what are their roles?

We have 14 other staff members who work incredibly hard. This group comprises of our nurses, reception staff, assistant managers and Jennie my practice manager. Without Jennie, I think I would wither away as she takes so much on so I can concentrate on the clinical challenges.

What do you think are the most important things about your team?

We ensure everyone is on board with our culture of providing great dental care. The group socialises well and we have numerous charity events and social occasions we all get involved in.

Do you have team meetings? If so, what format do they take?

We have morning 10-minute huddles to discuss any issues from the day before and head off any challenges we may face throughout the day. There are regular lunch and learns that cover a myriad of topics, and there are training opportunities throughout the year.

What did you do for your last staff Christmas night out?

As a group, we descended on ‘The Experience’, a social enterprise venue in Glasgow set up by the Kibble charity. Kibble has been helping young people to build a better and brighter future for themselves for 10 years by helping them gain workforce skills.

Last year it was Circus themed, with acrobats, carnival stalls and, quite deadly, themed cocktails. I’m sure it was good...

ABOUT THE PRACTICE

What’s the name of your practice and where is it located?

Brite Dental Paisley. It is located in the greater Glasgow area and is reasonably close to Glasgow airport.

How is your practice laid out? What is the workflow like?

Our new premises was formerly a car show room, so it allowed us to create a space that felt open, bright and friendly. We have modern, state of the art lighting giving it a light and airy feel.

Our accent colour for lights and our reception desk is green which is one of the key colours of our logo but we also chose green because it is associated with renewal, nature, energy and harmony all of which enhance our positive environment for the team and our patients.

We have made the most of our reception area which is spacious and has a large reception desk that can seat 3 members of staff to deal with the busy times and ensure no one is kept waiting too long. Our waiting room is child friendly and features a children’s corner with toys, books and a cartoon style infomercial full of fun facts and important oral hygiene messages.

Do you play music in the practice? If so, what do you play?

Each clinical area has relaxing and soothing music for the comfort and well-being of the patient.

What sets your practice apart from others?

The outgoing and friendly staff at Brite Dental are paramount to the success of the practice. They work hard every day to ensure every one of our patients’ journey through treatment is as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. One of our main goals is to “develop our talent” and that is why we focus so much on investing in our team. We also have new state of the art dental technology including 3D intra oral scanners, which eliminate the need for traditional impressions.

Every clinician has access to an OPT machine in a central x-ray room and radiographs can be taken and displayed and presented on the TV screens to the patients in a matter of seconds, giving us a chance to talk them through their treatment and answer any questions they may have.

The advanced technology and equipment we use is considered the best and most accurate available today and is used to offer a more comfortable patient experience. Using this technology, the team offer a full range of the highest quality treatments available, including; same day dental crowns, invisible braces, power teeth whitening and short-term digital orthodontics.

What are you most proud of about your practice?

We have recently had our 1 year anniversary. Looking back, I am most proud how all our hard work has given us a practice where our patients are impressed by the surroundings, the quality and variance of work we can provide, and how well they feel they are looked after.

It’s lovely when people say how welcoming our practice is, and when I hear that they’ve never known a clinic like it, it makes the long hours and hard work worth it.