Are these training day's worthwhile?

Dr. Roy Bennett  of Mellow Dental, Liverpool, gives his opinion:

This is what he had to say about the courses I have been running since 2003, having attended the course in November 2011 and a little more about him.

Dr. Roy Bennett BDS MFGDP (UK) Dip.Sed.

”I graduated from Liverpool Dental School in 1987, obtained the MFGDP from the Royal College of Surgeons in 2006 and then my Diploma in Dental Sciences from the University in 2008. 

My dental career began on the Wirral where I worked as an associate for a number of years. In 1995, I joined a private practice and became a partner in 1998.  I have divided my time between the practice and teaching at the Liverpool University Dental School over the last 13 years.  I am committed to the highest standards of clinical care and to the on-going process of postgraduate education.”

“ I highly recommend this course to dentists, hygienists, therapists and nurses. It is a fantastic practice builder.  It WILL set you apart from the competition in Private practice. Even if you don't want to do it yourself I would encourage (nay even fund !) one of your team to attend to learn about this excellent but sadly under used technique in practice. Richard is a great guy and its one of the best courses I ve attended in the last 20 years! “

I hope this may help you to make up your mind about attended one of the RA courses that I offer.

More testimonials 


Contact me richard@the-ra-coach.co.uk

RA Course Report 24th March 2012

Relaxing on a beautiful spring day at home in Newbury following our 29th RA course, it is time to reflect and check the feedback.

This time the one-day course was held in our new education suite and so everything was different for us and in truth, only just ready in time with plumbing still going on the day before.  

We decided to use both rooms with one set up for the interactive, didactic teaching 

and the other with a massage bed , doubling as a dental chair, for the practical demonstrations, using a mobile stand for the equipment.

I must say that on reflection, although this arrangement did work and allowed us to demonstrate the technique very nicely, talking it over with Chris, we feel that using my treatment room with a bona fide dental chair and our neat, fixed installation, is probably more akin to what delegates would be used to.  In that respect, as well as others, it differentiates our offering from that which SAAD are able to provide.

So for future courses, we will revert to using my treatment room for the practical demonstrations, including the one with a patient, which will still be patched through to the new seminar room via a-v links.

For me, one of the highlights of these demonstrations is when I offer the patient the opportunity to speak unscripted to the delegates . They only have a few seconds to say yes or no and invariably ( so far) accept the invitation.

This allows the patient to say how they felt about the experience immediately afterwards and also for the delegates to fully appreciate both the effectiveness of technique and just how rapidly the patient recovers and how lucid they are within, a few minutes of " switching off" the nitrous
oxide.

Feedback Results

We had 9 delegates. 6 dentists and 3 dental nurses.
3 dentists from different practices in Ireland and 2 from Leeds with 2 of their dental nurses.
None of these have used sedation or have seen patients treated under conscious sedation.
Finally, 1 GDP and his nurse from Hereford, who is experienced in IV sedation and had tried but gave up on RA some years ago.

Of the 9, 5 chose to give additional comments: Here they are, warts and all, in no particular order.
 

1) "The course was very informative, interesting and fun. Looking forward to practicing it"
 

2) "Thank you very much for an extremely informative day"
 

3) Please do not use yellow or light colour on the slides which are to be printed as it doesn't show up"
( My sincere apologies to any delegate whose handout was unclear, we did have some printing issues beforehand and I will of course be sending better copies to any delegate who requires it)
 

4) "Really enjoyable course. Enjoyed both the theoretical part and the hands-on element. Dr. Charon makes RA seem very straightforward. Chris and the other nurses were very kind also.
 

5) I was very impressed with what I felt was a unique course, small group size and 'special interest' experience from Richard, Chris and the team. I would and shall gladly recommend to colleagues interested in R.A.

Feedback scores:

Venue Excellent, 2: v .good 7 (Need to improve central heating. Too cool at the start and a tad warm by the end of the day)
Relevance: Excellent 8, v. Good 1
Audio-Visual: Excellent 5, v. Good 4 ( a fair reflection. We had a couple of minor glitches)
Speaker: Excellent:8 v. Good 1

So room for improvement on the audiovisuals. A few of the 490 slides to be edited. I'll be seeking further clarity on this from the delegates.

Summative assessment results

 All delegates completed a short MCQ by way of a summative assessment of the day's teaching.

7 delegates scored 83%
1 delegate scored 91%
1 delegate scored 100%

So all in all a pretty successful day's learning and vCPD and very helpful feedback too.

The next course is on May 12th, in Newbury. There has been much interest already. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, so if you are interested, please e-mail me (richard@the-ra-coach.co.) to request more information for course No. 30 in the series.

and finally via e-mail:

" Hi Richard

I just want to thank you, Chris and the rest of your team for a great course last Saturday. It was hugely informative and has greatly increased my confidence and enthusiasm for using RA.

Kind regards 

Lotte"

 

Education Facility is Almost Ready

Our new self-contained education facility, adjacent to Richard Charon at Newbury Smilemakers Dental practice, in Newbury, is close to completion. There are 2 rooms. The seminar room can hold 14-16 people with a projector & screen. The other is an ante-room, which could double for a smaller breakout or parallel group of 6-8 people.

Pictures will follow soon

RA Course for Sat 21st. Jan update

Audio-visual wiring being re-routed at Precision Dental Studio,
PowerPoint checked, camcorder checked, A-V connections checked.
RA equipment checked, food ordered, register and CPD certificates printed etc.
Ready to roll, setting up next Friday afternoon for Saturday's course. Delegates from Plymouth, Ireland, Manchester, Leamington Spa, Latvia, Estonia and Gerrard's Cross. Experience ranges from zero to very! Should be excellent.

Inhalation Sedation course in Saddleworth. Ready to Roll!

Everything is set for the course at Andy Lane's practice in Saddleworth on Saturday.

We have a full house. Dentists from Aberdeen to London (two practices), Liverpool, N. Wales (a first), from Barnsley and Mansfield too as well as Andy Boon from Apollonia House. Not forgetting several Dental nurses too.

Lunches are being sponsored by trade supporters, RA Medical Services and Orascoptics, so we will have a very full day. Looking forward to meeting everyone

A huge thanks and special mention to two local Newbury businesses for their help at very short notice in getting me ready to deliver my RA course this Saturday.
Dan Oatway of Network Newbury and Mike Collington of Clere Education . 

Dan has pulled out all the stops to help me at short notice as we had some issues with Mac to PC compatibility which slowed us down for 2 days and MIke seamlessley picked up the baton to get 1700 pages of handouts printed on time both provided outstanding customer service. Thank you both very much. Highly recommended! 

CPD certificates, questionnaires and MCQs ( yes there is a test!) are being printed in-house today. More work for Mike in future!

The audio-visual and dental sedation equipment is lined up ready to roll. We head off Friday lunchtime to set up Friday afternoon. Now looking forward to meeting everyone.

Richard Charon

Inhalation Sedation. Another little success

Vicki is my son's partner.
She came to me as a patient about 2 years ago. She was very fearful though not phobic. Here is her story,

Since then she has had several visits mainly using RA but more recently she has not always needed it.
Today she came for a minor filling which needed local anaesthetic (Using the Wand).

I said "Are you OK without the happy air for this" , she said "yes".
Then, as I prepared for the Wand, she suddenly said , "Actually I know I said I'd be brave but I'm getting panicky- can I gave the happy air after all"

"No problem" said I. Within 2 minutes she was sedated and I continued without so much as a hiccup.
10 minutes later the filling was finished ( it was a quick one)  and 3 minutes later she was leaving the dental chair ready to go back to taking care of my grandson!

There is no other simple sedation technique to overcome such anxiety so quickly in a non-invasive way, with no prior preparation and with such rapid return to normal, allowing patients to return to work, school or childcare. Just another reason that I love RA so much !

If you would like this easy approach to dentistry call us at Newbury Smilemakers on 01635 47757 and arrange a free initial discussion of your fears and your needs.

Its great to have made a difference

Here are some great comments received today from two colleagues who attended the RA course earlier in 2011. These were in response to my request for support in the 2011 Private Dentistry Elite 20 competition:

“ ..you have shown me that sedation and gentle painless dentistry is more of a practice builder than anything else. I have employed this in my daily practice” ..

” I find being able to treat someone that hasn't been able to visit the dentist due to fear much more inspirational than reading the 1000th article about veneers and bleaching we find in every journal! “

Dr Uzman al Haq.

"I really enjoyed the course and I am seeing not only children but also adult patients under RA now. You might remember me, I am a paediatric dentist."
she also said "You have my vote already!"
Makbule Ogretme (Mac)

Its great to have made a difference to the practicing lives of these dentists, let alone their patients

July 2011: RA course futher comments

Here, three of the course delegates offer some further comments about their day's training with us in Newbury last week. The first is from a dental hygienist, the wife of a GDP practice partner, who attended with two of their dental nurses:

"Thank you Richard for your prompt reply . We all thoroughly enjoyed the course and have much food for thought. I am busy telling my husband all about it! "

The next two are from GDPs. One an experienced RA user, the other not yet practicing in the UK but I understand is working towards her GDC overseas registration exam.

Interestingly both practitioners, who do not work together and with very different backgrounds and previous experience, made almost exactly the the same comment. Can you spot it?!

" Dr.Charon, many thanks for such an interesting course and for sharing all your wide knowledge and experience about RA with us.  I had 10 years of private and hospital general experience in my own country, and the foundation knowledge of sedation from my training, but before I have done your course, I had never thought that RA was an achievable and excellent tool for the comfort of nervous patients, especially in private practices.

The course content, the facilities, and venue were excellent. You had make it simple and easy to understand. 

Thank you to the whole team, for making this day such an informative and enjoyable one.

Esperanza Salazar"

The second is copied here from a comment left on the previous blog post.

Thank you Richard for an excellent comprehensive overview of RA. As an experienced RA user, I have not had any further training since my undergraduate days, and it was most reassuring to see that you have a very similar take on the subject to myself. Interestingly, I have never considered RA as a tool for private dentistry, - you certainly have opened that door for me - many thanks - Rob Regan

July 2011: RA course report

Saturday 23rd July -  
27th Hands-on training day in Inhalation Sedation with Dr. Richard Charon in Newbury.

Another excellent course with a great group of people today in Newbury.  The day was very interactive, with lots of questions and discussion and excellent feedback (see below)

Dental professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds attended, making it a full house of 8 at my dental practice. We had one dentist working in NE London in The Community Dental Service, another soon to begin in a Manchester practice, another currently seeking her GDC entrance requirements to practice in the UK from a European country. A fourth dentist with RA experience and his dental nurse from a larger practice in Wiltshire and a Hygienist and two dental nurses from the same practice in Hampshire.

So of the eight feedback forms , three gave me an "excellent" score in all categories for

• Venue, 
• Relevance to the subject,
• Audio-visuals and 
• Speaker,

Which was generous since I had to own up to an Audio-visual glitch at the start.

Another three gave me scores of very good or excellent in all categories

One returned feedback of

• Excellent - Speaker
• Very good for A-v and Relevance
• with only a "Good" for venue. 

Which is fair enough, as my practice is not a conference hotel.
The last feedback form said

• Excellent to relevance, 
• Very good to Speaker and
• Good to Venue and Audiovisuals

Overall I am pleased with this feedback. Here are some of the comments:

" Thank you very much to the whole team for making it such an informative and comfortable day. I feel enabled to take the training I have had forward and implement it in practice."

" Having had very little experience in Inhalation Sedation, this course has certainly increased my confidence and enthusiasm in being able to start providing it. Money well spent ! For me and my patients "

"Thanks for a very informative and relaxed day. Lunch superb ! "

"Very enjoyable, informative day. Thank you"

The next date is set for September 17th and is potentially full once confirmations are received.

We are also booking for Saturday 12th November.

Tel: 01635 47757

e-mail: richard@the-ra-coach.co.uk

A positive comment from May 7th 2011

Richard the main thing about the course that was good was the fact that you can see the whole dental team is fully involved in not only your seminars but also your practice. 

You can see that chris and yourself take great pride in your work and it shows through the course! 

thanks 

Uzman

Feedback comments from May 7th Teaching day

We hosted a mix of Dentists and Dental nurses, some in Private Practice others in the NHS 

including community services.

 They came from
Hull,
Reading, Berks (local to us), 
Sevenoaks, Kent and Croyden, Surrey

Here are some feedback comments

"One word; Excellent! Thank you very much"

"Learned a lot . Many thanks"

"I have been using RA for 25 years and still learnt 

a great deal from Richard. 

A very valuable day, many thanks"

"Excellent course. 

Well presented and explained, 

will definitely be providing RA in Practice"

I think these add nicely to the many other testimonials we have received. 

If you want see more here they are

RA helps restore faith in Dentist in Newbury

Today we received this lovely testimonial from one of our patients.  Addressed to my wife Chris who runs the practice and is our Treatment Coordinator too.

Hi Chris ,

Just to say thanks again to you and Richard for having a go at fixing that
for me yesterday and for explaining about the veneers. Sounds like that is
next course of action. Just a shame I didn't find you earlier as I may have
been able to save my teeth from being in the state they are now! I know you
now have a complaints procedure but I'm not sure if you have a 'compliments'
one. In case you do then thanks again for helping to restore my faith in
dentists and making it much easier to visit the dentist! (the happy gas is
also fabulous!)

Zara 

If you would like to try us to see if we can help restore your faith in dentists, why not call Chris on 01635 47757 . And yes, the happy gas is also fabulous!

Anticipating the Newbury RA course 15th Jan 2011

I am starting to look forward to our next RA course on 15th Jan in Newbury (Thatcham in fact).

It will follow the tried and trusted formula we used last November and have developed over 23 courses since 2003.

Teams will be attending from Winchester, Sutton, Camberley and Galway, yes that is on the on west coast of Ireland.  Indeed this team will not the first to come to Newbury from Galway.  

Our new trainee dental nurse, Kate, will also attend for a crash course. She has had six months dental nursing experience but only started with us this week, so RA will be new to her.

We will be eight Dentists (maybe nine) and eleven dental nurses.

The teaching day will be held for the 3rd time at Precsion Dental Studio's education suite in Thatcham.

If this is of interest to you or anyone you know , please get in touch.

01635 47757

richard@newburysmilemakers.com

Please also visit www.the-ra-coach.co.uk for more details, testimonials, future dates and course fees.

 

 

Inhalation Sedation Course November 2010

We had a full house attending our Hands-on Inhalation Sedation / RA course at Precision Dental Studio's Education Suite in Thatcham, near Newbury, on Saturday 6th November. 

My warm thanks to the following, whose generosity and help made the day possible.

Janet Pickles of RA Medical Services for the free loan of a mobile stand and RA mixing head to enable me to run the course at this venue

Precision Dental Studio for their excellent facility and making available the wonderful Maurice to lay in the Cat5 cabling between the lecture/presentation room and the surgery at the other end of the building requiring much clambering about in the roof space and for looking after us on the day. Not bad for 70+ !

Mark Chapman of Velopex for their generous and free loan of the Aseptico mobile dental chair for demonstrations.

Dhru Shah of Dentinaltubules.com for providing delegates with the tiniest USB MP3 players I've ever seen.

Dan Oatway of Network Newbury for help and cabling/connection solutions for the audio-visuals.

Last but not least a big thanks to my wife Chris and the team for their assistance on the day, arranging the lunch and generally supporting me.

I will follow this up with some testimonials/comments very soon but in the meantime, they say a picture paints a thousand words , so here are several thousand to give you a flavour of the day .....

The lecture session starts the day

 The practical demonstration begins

Paying close attention to the details

Passing on 35 years of accumulated knowledge
   

At the end of the day ( there's always one!!)

Ruth Lovering, Dental Hygienist's article

Thanks to Ruth Lovering, Dental Hygienist, for her article on the RA course she attended with us in Newbury, in February 2010.

BNI Testimonial

Today I attended the Jack O'Newbury BNI Chapter. BNI is an international networking group. I've been a member for just over 2 years now.
This morning was a special visitors day meeting and 20 visitors swelled the normal number of about 35. During the meeting members can, if they wish, read aloud a testimonial to another member for the services that have been provided to them.
I was delighted that Alison Stanton of AMS Worldwide Couriers stood up, put her hand on my shoulder and read out a testimonial for me to a room of 55 local business people, including reps from the Newbury Weekly News and the new Newbury Sound local radio station and Gavin Baine, BNI regional Director

Here is what Alison said

" Testimonial for Richard Charon - Changing Smiles - Changing Lives"

During the Christmas period my 9-year-old daughter, who had never had any dental treatment before, was complaining of a bleeding tooth. She wasn't in any pain but we were going on holiday for a week after Christmas and I didn't want to run the risk of her developing pain whist we were away on holiday.

I called Richard at 9am one morning when the heavens were pouring with snow, not really expecting the dental practise to be open in such weather conditions, and received a very positive response. If I could bring her to the practise Richard could see her straightaway. This I did, and by 10 am Rhian was having her first experience of a filling. When we got home her elder sister said 'did it hurt?' Rhian replied 'not at all. He gave me this nice stuff to breathe and I didn't feel scared one bit'.

Richard handled my daughter with a great deal of sensitivity and understanding. He took the time to explain to her everything he was going to do and what all the different bits of apparatus were for. As a result her first experience of dental treatment was relaxed and stress free. If only my own childhood experiences had been the same.

I would not hesitate to recommend Richard to anyone requiring dental treatment - especially those of a nervous disposition and, in particular, children for whom a positive of dental treatment is essential.

Alison Stanton.
A wow testimonial indeed. Thank you so much Alison.