The start of a week of recuperation.

So I'm sitting at home on the first working day after my operation. I feel generally good, a little bit of post operative pain but nothing that isn't controlled with paracetamol. I generally feel like I have a heavy head cold but no worse than that, and I was told by the surgeon that this was what to expect.


This morning Rebecca and I took a quick trip into town, we made it in and town was fairly quiet. By the time we left the half term hoards had descended and all the car parks looked busy.


I'm taking the chance to catch up on some journal reading. I read a brilliant article in Dental Update. It was this month's guest leader by Martin Kelleher. In this article he discussed whether dentists as a group of professionals were doing the right thing by sacrificing sound enamel to cater for patients who wanted to improve the appearance of their teeth using veneers or crowns. In a provocative article, he argued that dentists were/are being seduced by dental material manufacturers into offering quick fixes for our patients by removing sound enamel and providing crowns. It also discussed the fact that our patients may not understand or did not have explained the long term consequences of having crowns or veneers. He argued the need for dentists to offer more conservative treatment options such as bonding with composite and/or tooth whitening. and also that we should have a fall back position, because in the end all dental treatments have the potential for failure.


I enjoyed this article and would recommend it to anyone practicing dentistry, it can be found in Dental Update in the January/February 2010 edition. There is plenty of content here to ponder.

A walk on the Quay.

So finally I went into hospital on Wednesday. My septoplasty on my nose was finally carried out. Not too many ill effects after the operation, I feel a little tired but generally good. My nose feels like I have a heavy cold, but unfortunately I can't blow it because it is filled with large amounts of blood clot at present.

Today, decided to go out for a walk on Exeter Quay. Rebecca and I met up with her sister and the kids and went for a longish walk on Exeter Quay. The weather was dry, if a little overcast, and the temperature could best be described as bracing, but we all had an enjoyable morning. I've taken a few photographs and have edited them hope you like.

Weekend TV, I take over new TV critics job for a day.

Saturday night marked my second evening in a row left home alone with the dog, so for a change I had control of the TV and DVD for the night. 


Saturday marked the beginning of the Six Nations Rugby. The afternoon game was Ireland vs Italy, this was a rather turgid and boring affair resulting in an easy win for Ireland. The evening marked the start of the important game, Wales vs england at Twickenham. Before kick the teams and crowd made a moving tribute to the late great Bill Mclaren. There's a great tribute on You Tube which I've posted.





The encounter between England and wales was won by England. This was a much more exciting game with some great passages of play by both sides. Wales gave away an unnecessary sin bin late in the first half, God only knows what Alun-Wyn Jones was thinking. This passage of play allowed England to score two unanswered tries. wales came back in the next quarter of the game but England scored a late breakaway try to win by 30-17.


I'll take this chance to praise a TV documentary I watched this week; Chemistry- A volatile history. This programme described the history of the great pioneers of chemistry during the 19th and 20th centuries. The programme brought to life loads of the concepts I learnt whilst studying A level Chemistry. I wish I had seen a programme like this whilst I was studying, sometimes abstract and difficult concepts were brought to life, a brilliant programme.


I also managed to watch Quantum of Solace. This is Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond. The film was action packed but was slightly devoid of plot. Some of the set pieces were amazing but unlike some of Bonds previous incarnations this definitely wasn't cheesy.


Sunday I managed to play golf, a nine hole stable-ford at my local club. I scored 20 points and clinched third place, my best performance in a competition so far. Hope my streak continues.

News from Spicer Road

Another busy week this week. I am trying to get ahead on some treatments prior to me going into hospital next Wednesday. This is the third time I have been called for admission, I've been cancelled on two previous occasions, maybe this time my third I will actually get in and finally get my septoplasty. After all I am Welsh and as they say third time lucky for a Welshman.


Some sad news at the practice today, one of our hygienists who has been at the practice for 32 years has decided to hang up her scalers and retire. Fiona is a great character and has been a massive asset for our team and she will be greatly missed. We all wish her all the best in her retirement which will begin in three months.


Looking ahead to the weekend, the Six Nations starts and the big match is the first one, Wales vs England, can Wales make it three in a row against England? Looking forward to some great rugby.

A successful afternoon working with our business coach

Yesterday afternoon my business partner and I worked with our management team and business coach Clare McNamara on the future vision and values for our dental practice.


After three afternoon meetings we have finalised our vision for the next five years, agreed our purpose and values and summarised all these so we can present them to our team at a meeting next month.


Its been great to clarify our purpose, values and vision. It means that our team can now work with a common sense of purpose and push our dental practice forward.


Hopefully, we haven't agreed on anything to scary to our team and that everyone in our team joins with us to work through this time of change. 


Roll on exciting times.

Another month has flown past!

So here we are almost at the end of January, time is flying by faster than I would like to acknowledge.


So as you can see, January has been an interesting month. Exeter was affected by the worst snowfall I have seen in the nineteen years I've lived here. We suffered some disruption at work from patients not being able to travel and some staff members at the practice couldn't get in because they were snowed in in small villages that did not see the gritters for several days. Anyway after two days things got back to normal, but one thing stayed and that was the cold.


I have had a productive month, enjoyed rebuilding and improving smiles, and just generally improving my patient's dental health.


My business partners and management team have been working hard with Clare from Move Ahead Coaching and we are looking forward to unveiling our plans and vision to our staff and fabulous team next month. Here's a picture of some of our team taken in the Autumn last year.

Tomorrow will be my last day of work, Thursday a rest day and on Friday I am looking forward to meeting Kevin Rose of Azimuth Coaching and Mark Oborn at a course at Devon Dental Specialists in Ashburton. I think this will be a great day.


One quick recommendation before I go, I have just finished reading A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin. This is a brilliant book and shows what an organisation is capable of with a coherent vision, strong leadership and an amazing team.


One last thing, another photograph of sunnier times. Roll on the warmer weather.

Some places I've travelled to

I thought that on this cold, windy and rainy winter's night I would post some pictures of some warm and sunny places I've travelled to over the last few years.

Camps Bay, Cape Town.

To begin with, Rebecca and I went on our honeymoon to South Africa, we travelled to Cape Town and stayed in a wonderful boutique guest house The Four Rosmead  and then travelled on the Eastern Cape where we went to  the Pumba Private Game Reserve . This was a holiday of a lifetime and we had an absolutely amazing time here and would love to visit here again.

Some pictures of our lodge at Pumba Game Reserve and some of the wildlife.

Over the last few years I have travelled to America and explored the National Parks in Utah and the states to the West of the Rockies.

Here are some pictures of Yellowstone National Park, Teton National Park near Jackson and Arches National Park and Canyonlands near Moab, Utah.

I hope these great pictures will brighten up your evening on a cold winter's night!