At St Stephens Dental Practice the team consists of 3 dentists, myself the owner Martin Southon and 2 associates Karen Leadbetter and Tom Buckland.

There are 6 nurses and receptionists including Dawn and Nicola,the senior nurses.

I have been working at St Stephens since I qualified at the end of 1987 and Karen has been there a year longer. Tom has been working for me for 2 years and his family have been in Canterbury for 12 years. Tom is looking to settle here.

Dawn has been working for me for 21 years and Nicola since 1997.

So what does this mean to our patients?

Continuity of care.

Karen and I have been seeing some patients for over 20 years.

Patients see the same dentist and nurse for successive check ups and treatment. This usually means less treatment.

Generally when you see a new dentist they have to make a snap shot decision on what they see right then.

Some dental conditions, especially starting decay can be monitored as there may be a good chance it is static.

This is especially true if the same dentist is monitoring them year on year.

If you see someone different for each exam then rather than monitoring there is a good chance these conditions will be treated with a filling possibly unnecessarily.

This lack of continuity of care is especially likely at the corporate dental companies which are taking over many local dental practices.

Often the companies owning these practices move the dentists around so you end up seeing someone different at each visit.

So for continuity of care and less treatment come and see the friendly team at St Stephens Dental Practice where they will give you the confidence to smile.