Mostly good except on all 3 visits this year I seem to always end up with junior assistants who are very heavy-handed/not at all "gentle" with the suction tool. My first visit this year was particularly memorable as it was thrust into my throat so hard it made me gag to the point I couldn't breathe.
In other visits, I experience more discomfort and pain from the tool being forced unnecessarily hard against gums and throat, than anything else.
My actual dentist is very good, she comes across as polite, friendly and reassuringly competent.
Other than this, and the confusing billing which doesn't seem to match the appointment and payment schedule originally agreed to, I've been very happy.
But, if I could, I'd probably set my rating to 3.7/5 as these issues do seem unnecessary and preventable for a company of your size.
Reply from Calm & Gentle Dental Care - Rustington
Good morning, thank you for your feedback. We are always very grateful when patients take the time to provide feedback, good and bad. We take all feedback very seriously and always discuss it as a team. Each morning we have a morning huddle and in the event, whilst rare, we have a negative comment, we discuss to see what we could have done differently to ensure the patient had a better experience.
Firstly, we would like to apologies - we are extremely sorry that on all three occasions this year, you seem to have received a poor experience; something we all work very hard to avoid.
In 2023, like many other dental clinics, we have found it difficult to find qualified dental nurses. Post COVID, so many nurses decided to leave the profession and the industry finds its-self with a national shortage. We decided to take the route of a trainee dental nurse however, and unfortunately, earlier this year, the two new trainees did not worked out. As you can imagine, there is a significant amount to training with a new team member and whilst our team of professionals, all work together to ensure they follow our calm and gentle ethos, this can take time and we are extremely sorry that the speed of our standard of our in-house training has had a negative effect on your experience with us.
We are pleased to report that during the past few weeks, we seem to have found two new, very experienced, qualified dental nurses who will, potentially, be joining our team. That said, we intend to continue to work with our newsiest trainee and will ensure we discuss your feedback and work on this area to with her.
We would also encourage feedback, especially if you feel something could be improved, after each visit so we can address any concern you raise and discuss it as a team. Your experience is extremely important to us and where required, we want to make any necessary changes to avoid repeating the same mistake again.
Thank you again for raising this concern with us; we are very sorry that we not exceeded your expectations and will work hard to avoid this ever happening again. If you would like to speak to the practice manager to discuss further, please let reception know and we will arrange a convenient time to call you back.
We hope to see you again - best wishes,
Calm and Gentle Dental Care
