Building for the future

I am delighted to provide an update on the renovation and expansion of Stormont Dental Care.

2020 was a strange and difficult year for everyone. We all had to adapt and change many things in our lives. For us, that included introducing new measures to keep our patients and staff safe as we continued to provide important dental care.

I am very proud of the work of my dentist colleagues and nursing staff during the Covid-19 pandemic and want to take this opportunity to thank them. I also want to thank you – our patients – for supporting us by wearing masks and washing your hands when attending for appointments. By working together, we have been able to continue to see patients who are in pain or need treatment.

Stormont Dental Care was Chapman Dental Care for 36 years before I became Principal Dentist in 2012. We have greatly appreciated the support and friendship we have received from Chapman patients and new clients who have become our patients since 2012.

Up until recently, we had a busy two-surgery practice which enabled us to build up the team while slowly modernising the building and the business. In 2018 my husband Neil and I purchased the two upstairs floors of our building at 502 Upper Newtownards Road and we began renovation work in March 2020. Covid struck. ‘Lockdown’, ‘bubbles’ and ‘social distancing’ became part of everyday conversation. The world had changed.

After a six-week break, the builders returned to a Covid-secure building site and finished their work by mid-August. Now, spread across three floors, we have a four-surgery practice in a renovated and modernised building. One of the benefits of building during this time, was that we were able to build Covid safety into our design. The practice is bright and airy, we factored the need for social distancing into our seating areas, hand sanitising stations are available throughout the building and we have separate entrance and exit doors.

We have double the physical capacity of before so SDC is continuing to expand. We have welcomed two experienced dentists on to our team – Clare Paul and Brian McLornan. They are accepting new NHS patients. We are also registering new private and Denplan patients.

Our increased space and new staff mean we now need to refer very little treatment out of the building. We can look after many dental needs under one roof.

I am offering Invisalign Go Plus as an alternative to braces and Lucy O’Connor can provide Invisalign Go. This treatment is an alternative to conventional braces and involves wearing clear, removable aligners that gradually straighten your teeth. There is no need for the brackets or wires associated with traditional metal braces.

Simon Kingston is with us on a part-time basis for specialist advanced restorative dentistry and implant surgery. We can provide oral surgery for advanced extractions and sedation is offered by a number of our dentists.

We have had physical changes to our building and welcomed new staff, but our ethos remains the same. We are here to provide dental excellence and compassionate care. We are a family practice. By being one of our patients, you are a valued member of the Stormont Dental Care family. We wish all of you good health for 2021. No matter what this year brings, Stormont Dental Care will continue to be here to care for you.

Louise Taggart, Principal Dentist, Stormont Dental Care