I was recently approached by my local Dentist, who was interested in bringing his surgery out of the dark ages and establishing an online presence, primarily, to attract new patients to his surgery, as well as providing more in depth treatment information to his existing patients.

Now many local Gloucester Dentist Surgeries are far from over equipped with computer equipment, my dentist does not even have a computer at all, they do all their administration on pen and paper, accounts, the lot, on paper!

Even the appointment system is a manual log book system, where the patients are sent a 2nd class post card several months before their next appointment is due.

I discussed with my Dentist the need to have at least one computer connected to the internet in the surgery reception area, as this would be needed to check for emails and contact form results from the new website and potential new clients. Training would be needed for the reception staff, who all said they were a bit long in the tooth for learning how to use a computer. I was starting to think my work was going to be cut out here.

Strangely enough, the term ‘a bit long in the tooth’ is a dentist related saying, it was born from the process of receding gums, which is normally age related. The older one gets, the more receding gum line process takes place, making teeth appear longer. Although my dentist was keen to point out, regular visits to the dentist will slow right down the speed at which receding gum disease will take place, as patients can be educated with the correct oral hygiene practises to prevent the receding gum line .

Anyway, I have left my dentist with several options for his web presence, I will have to wait and see what he decides, in the meantime, I think I will go and brush my teeth, so I don’t grow long in the tooth, for the time being!