We changed how 3,000 patients were seen. Here is what happened.
In January 2025, The Gentle Touch converted fully to a therapist-led care model. Over 3,000 private patients were transferred to a new way of being seen: 45-minute appointments led by dental therapists, working to the full extent of their scope, with dentists diaries filled with treatments referred from our dental therapist colleagues.
We did not know exactly what would happen. We had the theory, logic, a gut feeling, and the conviction that this was the right move. What we didn’t have was the data.
In November 2024 (when my patients were informed of this change) we were prepared with extra staff covering every phone anticipating a barrage of calls. After all, this was a paradigm shift in patient care.
We had maybe one or two calls. Patients who wanted to confirm a couple of things. Then nothing.
What patients actually experienced was this: instead of a 15-minute check-up followed by a separate hygiene appointment in a different surgery, they got 45 minutes in one chair. A full oral health and periodontal assessment, a 3D iTero scan. Radiographs reviewed with Pearl AI. A 3D iTero scan report attached to a personalised, branded email sent to them afterwards. Thorough, unhurried, and genuinely impressive. Patients finished their appointment and asked reception if there was anything else to pay.
The reception team noticed it too. Overnight, the number of patient visits to the front desk halved. No more messages flying between two surgeries about patient movements. No more knock-on delays when I ran over in a 15-minute check-up slot. With six surgeries running, that made an enormous difference to the day.
And as for the dentists – imagine each day the diary is filled with treatments you love (which happen to be high-value)?
Result! Delighted patients. Happy clinicians and growing bottom line.
The numbers from that first year are in a separate post, if you want to see exactly what happened to revenue, onlay production, and dentist chair time. But the starting point was focused around patient care: we wanted to give patients a better experience.
