Harbour Dental
No one loves a visit to the dentist but local dentists Harbour Dental try their best to help make your visit as 'pleasurable and pain-free' as possible. They ensure that the patient's comfort is paramount, make proper use of new technology and have a focus on prevention and good dental health.
Harbour Dental strives to always be one step ahead of the game by using the latest techniques and products to treat patients.
Husband and wife team Eugene and Alexia Bojé have run the Market Street practice since moving to Devon four years ago.
Eugene has been in private practice since 1999, shortly after he graduated from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
He opened his first UK based practice in Lincolnshire in 2003 before the couple and their two young children fell in love with Devon and decided to make it their home in the summer of 2009.
Last year Eugene embarked on a Masters Degree in Advanced and Cosmetic Dentistry and his new found knowledge is already benefiting patients.
‘Today I had a patient with an abscess,’ Eugene said. ‘He had a root canal done some time ago and the dentist he saw at the time must have missed the fourth canal. That was quite tricky and if it wasn’t for the course I might not have picked it up.
‘It’s a confidence thing – the more you know the better service you can offer.’ He added: ‘I am really enjoying the course, it’s nice to be excited by it.
‘For three days every month we get the best lectures from professors from all over the world and we hear about all the latest and best technology and materials.
‘As part of our study we look at a website which independently rates new products and I use all the five-star products on there to get the best results. ‘It’s little things like that that make a big difference.
‘The main thing is to give patients time so they don’t feel rushed and to make the treatment as pain free as possible, and then of course you have to have the best materials. There is no use having inferior, cheaper materials because the better something is done the longer it will last.’
Eugene practices Minimal Intervention dentistry, which is all about keeping gums and teeth healthy for life rather than damage limitation and constant repair.
He explained: ‘We want to change the way people view their dentist from someone they visit when they have a concern to someone they are in partnership with to ensure problems are prevented.’
Popular cosmetic dentistry at Harbour Dental includes veneers, dentures and tooth whitening.
Eugene provides a professional home tooth whitening service for £299, which involves taking an impression of the teeth to create a kit which can be used at home again and again. ‘He said: No whitening lasts for ever but with this system you can keep the trays and top up the whitening treatment every 18 months to two years. It’s quite a cost effective way of doing it.’
Cosmetic dentures start at £475. ‘They are discreet, secure and aesthetically pleasing,’ Eugene said.
‘We do fit plastic dentures but mostly we fit metal ones which are more comfortable. They allow people to go out with confidence and not worry that when they sneeze their dentures will land in someone’s salad.’
Harbour Dental is planning to implement a new membership plan with different monthly payment bands depending on levels of treatment patients are likely to need.
With 2,000 patients now on the books, Harbour Dental has gone from strength to strength since Eugene and Alexia took it over.
Eugene said: ‘Our dental nurse Sue has worked at the practice for 11 years and she said this is the first time she has known it to be booked up two weeks ahead. Clearly we must be doing something right, which is really good.’
First published March/April 2013 By The Dart
Telephone: 01803 833800
