I say this every year but I can’t quite believe how quickly this year has flown in. My favourite thing to do in the run up to Christmas for our family is to collate all of the pictures I’ve taken from the year and put them in a photo album. It’s become a yearly tradition and one of my kid’s favourite presents. I’m always amazed at how much we can cram into a year.
The same applies to work. I can flick through my work photos and reflect on all of the ups and downs that our team experience collectively and individually across the year and wonder how on earth we achieved and conquered so much.
After a brief rest over the festive period ‘23 we were straight back to it relocating and welcoming Aswin, our new dental therapist, to the practice in January. Our dental nurses, Leonie Dickson and Kelly Allan completed their radiology training and Jodie Cordley completed her Childsmile qualifications allowing them all to participate more actively in your care.
We continued to introduce new technology to the practice, in-house crown design and production was a project we started in 2024 and will continue into 2025. We hope, in time, this will allow us to reduce waiting times and enhance the quality and speed of our services, all with our patients’ care in mind.
In August we welcomed Tobryn Prior to the practice as our new junior dentist. I’m sure her patients would agree that she has been a breath of fresh air. We are looking forward to seeing her flourish in the latter half of her junior dentist training year.
We continued our efforts to prioritise children’s oral health and welcomed over 600 children into the practice across 5 fun filled Kids Days. They are focussed on providing their dental care in a fun and relaxed environment, breaking down barriers to dental care and enforcing good oral hygiene habits that will see them into adulthood. We were delighted to be asked by one little boy if he could come back tomorrow. Job done.
Beyond the obvious success stories are the things I am even more proud of, the things that our patients don’t see…. I’ve lost count of the various admin tasks and ‘tidy ups’ our team have undertaken across the year. Literally trying to improve every area of the practice in terms of the organisation, physical and clerical and we are the first to say that we are never done, there is always something that can be improved. We will always be a working progress.
Like many in our profession, we faced the ongoing challenges in the dental industry this year. The shortage of dentists has impacted practices across the country, including ours, and while it has presented obstacles, it has forced us to adapt and has also reinforced our commitment to providing the best care possible to our patients.
This year, our team at Gunning Dental has shown incredible resilience, adaptability, and growth, and it’s this spirit that has allowed us to embrace change and support one another through a year filled with milestones, new team members (baby Brooks), exciting projects and the inevitable ups and downs of life. We move forward with a great deal of hope, new projects and aims for 2025.
Our efforts moving into 2025 will be focussed on recruitment and building on the projects that we started in 2024.
- We are looking to increase our use of our own lab capabilities.
- Dental implants continue to be a growing area of our practice and one that both Andrew and our implant nurses enjoy immensely. Andrew is set to embark on yet another year long course focussing on more advanced implant techniques.
- Jayne has also seen a rise in requests for orthodontic work which is putting her Diploma to good use!
- In May we will start the junior dentist recruitment process again. We are reassured that the system has been amended to help struggling areas like ours and to aid recruitment. For now we are focussed solely on Tobryn’s development as she reaps the benefit of being our only junior dentists, benefiting from Andrew and Jaynes undivided attention.
As we close the year, we extend our deepest thanks to all our patients for their continued support, patience, and encouragement. Your kind words and trust fuel our team’s passion for what we do, and every review you share brings a renewed sense of purpose to each of us. We wish you a joyful Christmas and a 2025 filled with health, happiness, and smiles!
