Therapist-led care: The First Year in Numbers
In January 2025, The Gentle Touch converted fully to a therapist-led care model. If you want the story of how that transition felt and how patients responded, that is in a separate post. This one is just the numbers.
The headline
Practice-wide income per clinical day is up 27.3%.
I lead with that figure rather than my own because it is the one that transfers. Income per clinical day is the fairest comparison available, because it is not affected by how many days somebody works or how their week is arranged.
It is also still rising. Only my own diary is mature at twelve months on the model. Two of the associates were twelve months into a growing diary and the third was nine months in, building a list from scratch. The practice-wide average is being held down by immature diaries, not by the ceiling in the model.
Income per clinical day
| Clinician | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Principal | £2,351 | £3,394 | +44.4% |
| Associate 1 | £2,117 | £2,714 | +28.2% |
| Associate 2 | £2,570 | £3,110 | +21.0% |
| Associate 3 | £2,487 | £2,929 | +17.8% |
| Practice-wide | +27.3% |
Every clinician earned more per day after the change, whatever stage they were at on the model. That consistency matters to me as much as the percentages do.
The comparison periods, because they change how you read the table. Mine is January to December 2024 against June 2025 to May 2026, a mature therapist-led diary. Associates 1 and 2 are twelve months of a growing diary. Associate 3 is September 2024 to May 2025 against September 2025 to May 2026, nine months of data as a new starter who built a list from scratch and was therefore carrying high-value treatment before the model started.
The shift into high-value work
Onlays across the practice rose from 453 to 522, an increase of 23.6% per clinical day.
| Clinician | Change per clinical day | Addition onlays |
|---|---|---|
| Principal | +27.8% | 51 |
| Associate 1 | +22.1% | 15, alongside other high-value work |
| Associate 2 | +53.8% | 56 |
| Associate 3 | +7.2% | Nine months on the model |
Our patients are older (average age is 60) and everyone here has a special interest in protecting badly damaged teeth. Onlays and overlays fill our days, which is dreamy dentistry as far as I am concerned!
When clinical time is released, high-value work rises disproportionately. The freed hours fill with more enjoyable dentistry.
What happened to check-ups
Dentist check-ups fell from 2,380 to 664. That is 1,716 appointments, a reduction of 72.1%, and approximately 429 hours of dentist time, which is over twelve full working weeks in a year.
The individual figures track the date each of us converted, which is useful if you are wondering how quickly you would see movement. I converted in January 2025 and mine fell by 85.0%. Associate 1 converted in May 2025 over a twelve month roll-out, down 67.0%. Associate 2 was on the same timetable, down 65.8%.
Those appointments moved across to the dental therapist team, who deliver them as 45 minute appointments: comprehensive check-ups and periodontal assessment, iTero 3D scan, photographs, guided biofilm therapy, radiographs read with Pearl, preventive advice and treatment planning. Where treatment is recommended the therapist sends a written report to the patient, with the scan report included – this is what helps patients to understand their problems as well as the solutions to help. Patients get considerably more than they did before.
What it did for me
- 35 fewer working days than the year before.
- Clinical hours down from 21.5 to 16 a week.
- Income per day up 44.4%, from £2,351 to £3,394.
- Onlays per clinical day up 27.8%.
I went from three clinical days a week in January 2025, to two and a half in January 2026, and to two from September 2026.
The practice behind the numbers
A fully operational, fully private practice in a small Scottish market town. More than three thousand patients moved across. Four dentists in the dataset, alongside the dental therapist team.
If you want to understand how we built it, and what it would take in your own practice, the amber // APLIN therapist-led care programme is where to start.
Any questions, get in touch! Thanks, Amber.
This post was revised in August 2026. The figures now shown are drawn from the full twelve month analysis and replace the earlier set published in May.
