Treatments We Love: The Dental Barn, Hailsham
Hands up who loves their dentist? We’re not seeing many hands, from where we’re sitting.
Well, Jo loves her dental practice – and that’s quite something for someone who (like a surprising number of people we know) has at various times been a dentist-dodger. But after a less-than-satisfactory experience with a London dentist, who gave her some expensive and unasked-for crowns that are too tightly-squeezed (and made her feel about one foot tall, with his scolding), Jo was definitely up for a change.
She remembered that a couple of years ago at an entrepreneurs event in Birmingham, she’d met Alison Thompson, a dental nurse who’d set up her own dental surgery, The Dental Barn, near Hailsham. She was warm. She was friendly. She was funny. But what pushed Jo’s button was discovering that it had been set up to offer ‘Fear-Free Dentistry’ – and isn’t that what we ALL want…? It’s a private practice, sure, but not silly prices at all.
Being only a 40-minute drive from her home in Hastings (which sure beats an hour and a half on the train to London), Jo decided to make the switch and couldn’t have a bigger, better-looking smile on her face.
Dentist Laura dealt with some tooth issues, but it was Alison, in her continuing role as dental nurse, who FINALLY explained to Jo how to use an electric toothbrush properly – brushing the pockets around the gums, rather than the teeth (and honestly, we’ve discovered that most people don’t know, so it’s not just Jo!)
Suffice to say that Jo now actively looks forward to going for check-ups (not something she ever, ever thought she’d say), and has also had a gentle tooth-whitening carried out – not ‘Hollywood smile’ bright, but a definite banishing of the staining from her life-long tea-drinking habit. More than that, she’s become a devoted nightly ‘pocket-brusher’ with her Oral-B electric toothbrush – all thanks to Alison and The Dental Barn.
The setting’s lovely, too: comfy sofas in the waiting room, pretty decor, flowers, but with the spotless cleanliness you’d expect from a dentist’s surgery – and now, the waiting room’s ‘reopened’, so clients don’t have to wait in their cars to be called.
If you can’t get to Hailsham, our recommendation is: find a dentist you can look forward to visiting. Oral health is so, so important – and your smile will thank you for it.
The Dental Barn, Clifton Farm, Camberlot Road, Upper Dicker, Hailsham, BN27 3QG/01323-325397
Instagram: @thedentalbarnsmile
