During our visit to Confident Dental Care we met with the provider and spoke with four members of staff. We spoke with five patients and looked at patient records. The provider specialised in dental implants, treating patients who were registered at the practice and patients who were referred to the practice.

All of the patients we spoke with were happy with the dental treatment they received. One patient said “I came to the practice and felt confident with the dentist and the work they had suggested. I explained I was nervous and they explained how I could have sedation”. Patients told us they received advice about how to maintain good oral health.

Patients said they were involved in their treatment plans and their permission was sought before any treatment started. One said “they explained sedation and how I would feel. I was told I would need a responsible adult to come and pick me up afterwards. I was given pages of written information and I signed a consent form”. We saw patients had a treatment plan which they signed as consent to the treatment and costs.

Patients we spoke with told us the practice was always clean and tidy, one said “it’s really, really clean. Everyone always looks very smart and clean as well”. We found current infection control guidelines were followed to reduce the risk of infection.

The provider had effective staff recruitment and selection processes. We saw that appropriate checks were undertaken to ensure staff had the appropriate skills and qualifications do the job.

The practice operated systems to regularly monitor the quality of care and treatment patients received and used this information to improve the service it offered.

We spoke with four people using the service. One person who was attending the practice for treatment told us they had visited initially two years ago, by recommendation and had been treated well. They said that the service had explained their treatment had never explained their treatment much better than other dentists they had visited previously elsewhere. They said that staff at the practice were “extra caring”.

Another person said they thought the reception staff were “lovely helpful and knowledgeable”. They told us about the treatment they were expecting. They said the dentist had fully explained the procedure and they knew exactly what to expect and why the treatment was necessary. They told us that the practice was recommended to them and they chose to go there because they were unhappy with the treatment they received from their previous dentist. The person said they were previously an extremely nervous patient but that the practice “is fantastic and the treatment is always successful”. They added that their child had also attended the practice and found their treatment to be successful.

A person who had previously been with another dentist said they “would never go back”. They said they had “a relatively low pain threshold and used to dread going to the other dentist but doesn’t dread coming here”. They told us they could not fault the practice. They told us that removing teeth was a last resort for the practice and “suggested to others who have had a bad experience that they should go to the Confident dental practice”.

In addition to the dentists and hygienist, we spoke with five staff either individually or in small groups. Staff said they felt supported by others in the team and their employers. They talked about the good team working they experienced. They all told us about their role in ensuring that nervous patients were “reassured” and “comforted” encouraging them to “tell us how they feel".

We saw some compliments within the surgery comments book which were all positive about the service.

We saw that the practice offered a calm and relaxing place for people to wait for appointments. Treatment rooms were clean and appeared well organised.

Records we saw recorded people’s personal details, medical history and underpinned the treatment people received.