‘COVID-19 has brought the acceptance of virtual smile consultations forward by five years’

As lyricist Leonard Cohen’s Anthem points out: ‘There is a crack… in everything. That's how the light gets in.’

Indeed, it was within this locked down and fractured world that one dental practice found its own ray of sunshine, cementing its innovative solution to a industry-wide problem – that of consulting with patients often fearful of taking the first step into the dental environment.

The enforced break in chairside activity saw private practice Care Dental Platinum and its sister, The Care Dental Practice (a mixed practice), launch complimentary virtual consultations (albeit it a little earlier than planned). These online face-to-face Zoom communications – already in situ for the more phobic patient – offered anyone in need of dentistry a semblance of the services they were being denied.

Situated in West London’s Hammersmith Road, and mostly reliant on the people in the surrounding office blocks for footfall, The Care Dental Group shut down with many of its commuter clients miles away from their practice.