// About Amber
Dentist, educator, clinical thinker
Changing how dentistry is practiced, one team at a time.
A First Dentistry
Amber Aplin is a dentist, practice principal and educator based in Kelso, Scottish Borders. She acquired The Gentle Touch in 2017 and developed it into the UK’s only fully private, therapist-led biomimetic dental practice and, as far as confirmed, the largest fully biomimetic practice in the world.
Through the amber // APLIN training programmes, Amber teaches two things she believes belong together but are rarely taught as a complete system.
The first is the clinical formula: how to identify high-risk teeth using objective criteria, before they break or cause symptoms, and how to restore them biomimetically so they last for the long term. The second is the practice model: how to transition to a therapist-led care approach, where dental therapists carry out all preventive and scope-appropriate treatment, freeing the dentist to focus on complex restorations. She has been running this model live since January 2025 and has the financial data to show what it does to productivity, revenue and working hours.
Amber does not teach practice branding, team culture or patient communication scripts. She teaches the clinical and structural foundations that make everything else possible.
How Amber thinks about dentistry
Amber specialises in preventive and biomimetic dentistry. Where much of the profession has traditionally waited for teeth to fail before treating them, Amber asks a different question: which teeth are already at high risk, and how do we protect them before they break or cause symptoms?
The answer lies in what she calls the red flags: objective, evidence-based criteria for identifying structurally compromised teeth carrying asymptomatic fractures beneath old restorations. Most of these teeth will eventually cause symptoms, often acutely and expensively, or simply break when a patient is eating something unremarkable like bread. Identifying them early, restoring them biomimetically, and sharing the evidence directly with patients transforms both clinical outcomes and patient relationships.
Biomimetic dentistry provides the restorative foundations
By working with the natural structure and properties of the tooth rather than against them, it is possible to restore function and aesthetics conservatively, durably, and without the cycle of repeat treatment that conventional approaches so often produce.
The other part of the system is the practice model. Amber has championed therapist-led care as the structure that makes this kind of dentistry financially sustainable and clinically scalable. When dental therapists carry out all preventive and scope-appropriate treatment, dentists are freed to focus on the complex restorative work that biomimetics demands, and that patients genuinely benefit from. Outcomes improve. Productivity increases. Teams work at the top of their scope.
At The Gentle Touch, biomimetic dentistry is embedded in every aspect of clinical practice, and therapist-led care is now the model through which the vast majority of patients receive their care. Both approaches are operational, evidenced, and producing results that are already attracting attention from clinicians across the UK.
Amber’s Story
Amber qualified as a dentist at Newcastle University in 1998 and spent sixteen years as an Army dentist, including postings in Germany, Northern Ireland and Canada, before buying The Gentle Touch in Kelso, Scottish Borders, in 2017.
What began as a commitment to doing dentistry differently has grown into something she could not have fully anticipated: a practice that clinicians from across the UK travel to visit, training programmes that are changing the way dental teams work, and a profile drawing her onto platforms and stages she is only beginning to explore.
5 Stars
Perfect Google record across 160+ reviews
40%+
Productivity improvement since the model launched
UK-first
First fully biomimetic dental team in the country
She is not someone who set out to become a thought leader. She set out to be a good dentist. The recognition has followed the work.
The Gentle Touch was the first dental practice in the UK to operate as a fully biomimetic team, and it remains a working proof of concept for everything Amber teaches. The results have been significant: a perfect 5-star Google record across 150+ reviews, and productivity improvements of over 40% since the model was introduced. But what gives the model its sustainability is the deeper impact: on clinicians who now do the work they trained for, on a support team that feels genuinely purposeful, and on patients who receive better, more consistent care.
Her training programmes, the Biomimetic Dental Programme and the Therapist-Led Care (TLC) Programme, grew directly out of the questions other clinicians kept asking her: how did you do it? Can we do it too?
The answer is yes. And unlike most people who teach, Amber can point to a living, working practice that proves it. The financial data is real. The patient outcomes are real. The team is real. That is what makes the training different, and that is what makes the invitation worth taking up.
Recognition
2025 Private Dentistry Awards
Winner //
Practice of the Year
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Winner //
Patient Care
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Highly Commended //
Team of the Year
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Speaking
15 May 2026 // Birmingham
The Dentistry Show: Transforming practice profitability and patient care through therapist-led models (in collaboration with Kuraray)
13 June 2026 // London
The Minimalist Ministry, Ministry of Sound
Webinar
Dr Barry Oulton’s dental practice owner group
Webinar // January 2025
Patient Plan Direct with Simon Reynolds: dental plan membership
Podcast appearances
February 2026
Dental Leaders Podcast, Episode 329: Sandhurst to Scotland (with Payman Langroudi)
Spring 2026
Southern Cross Dental Podcast
December 2024
Two Reds Are Better Than One, S07 E12: The tough dentist with the Gentle Touch (with Chris Barrow and Ashley Latter)
// Industry Partners
Credentials at a glance
Qualifications
BDS: Newcastle University, 1998
MJDF RCS (Eng): Royal College of Surgeons
PgDip Primary Dental Care: University of Edinburgh
Experience
Royal Army Dental Corps: 16 years
The Gentle Touch, Kelso: Since 2017
Founder and principle dentist. the largest fully biomimetic dental practice in the world, the only fully biomimetic practice in the UK, and the only fully therapist-led private dental practice in the UK
Special Interest
Preventive and biomimetic dentistry
Education and Innovation
Therapist-Led Care (TLC) Model: Creator
CPD Courses: BSDHT-accredited
Delivered from The Corn Exchange, Kelso
The Gentle Touch, proof of concept
Everything Amber teaches is grounded in what she has built at The Gentle Touch. It is not a demonstration practice or a model created for training purposes. It is a real, busy private dental practice in a small Scottish market town, running live since January 2025 on the exact clinical and structural model she teaches.
The financial data is real. The patient outcomes are real. The team is real. If you want to understand what biomimetic, therapist-led, preventive-focused dentistry looks like in practice, and what it does to productivity, revenue and working hours, The Gentle Touch is the place to look.
Work with Amber
Whether you are a clinician looking to develop your skills, a practice owner considering a transformation in how your team works, or an event organiser looking for a speaker, Amber would love to hear from you.
Biomimetic Dental Programme
Clinical training in biomimetic dentistry for dentists and dental therapists.
Speaking & Media
Amber Aplin is available for conferences, study clubs, podcast appearances and corporate events.
Contact
Whether you are a dentist curious about training, a practice owner considering a different way of working, an event organiser looking for a speaker, or a corporate interested in partnership, Amber would love to hear from you.
Latest News
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