Smile – you’re in business!

Dentistry was always a necessary service (and not always a pleasant one at that) but, these days, more and more people are choosing, not just essential maintenance, but active enhancement. In fact, cosmetic dentistry is big business, as NI Business Now found out when we talked to Darren Cromey.

Born and bred in Bangor, Darren studied dentistry at Glasgow and now has a very successful and established practice in Walkinstown, Dublin, where he has been based for the last nine years. Although he and his team are very happy to offer traditional dentistry, Darren has developed a niche in cosmetic dentistry – he’s the man who can, quite literally, put a smile on your face.

What is cosmetic dentistry?

While traditional dentistry focuses on oral hygiene and preventing, diagnosing and treating oral disease, cosmetic dentistryfocuses on improving the appearance of a person’s teeth, mouth and smile. In other words, cosmetic dentistry provides elective – or desired – treatments and services.

One of the aspects of cosmetic dentistry where I have gained a strong reputation is the ‘smile makeover’. This typically involves a comprehensive assessment of your smile aesthetics in order to improve its overall appearance. There are various cosmetic dentistry procedures that can be employed, such as dental veneers, dental implants, gingival sculpting and teeth whitening, but I have years of experience in dental braces.

What treatments do you offer?

My main focus is short-term orthodontics and I have done over 1000cases. I do these, Damon braces and short term lingual (hidden behind your teeth)braces along with a lot of composite fillings/veneers. I refer out surgical placements of implants but restore most of these cases.

What extra training and qualifications have you taken to offer cosmetic dentistry?

With regard to the short term braces, I have been trained and mentored by DrRick de Paul in Cleveland, Ohio – he’s regarded as the guru for such procedures. As a qualified dentist, I’m always attending courses, as CPD is a fact of life, but I’ve chosen courses that will add to the artistic flare I have, such as a composite or white filling course I attending in Italy a couple of years ago, which allows me to provide a more cost-effective, medium term solution at a fraction of the cost of porcelain. I’m also a competentOrmco-Damon Braces provider, which embraces the more modern concepts in orthodontics.

I don’t restrict myself to dentistry training and development though, I’ve also had specialist dentistry practice coach Alun Rees working on me and my business for six months and my whole practice team has attended the Ashley Latter Ethical Sales and Communication Course, which is very highly regarded.

What difference has developing cosmetic dentistry made to your business?

Well, obviously, you could look at the bottom line on the books and that’s pretty important. People who want the best cosmetic dentistry are prepared to pay for it so it’s a good niche to develop. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s no longer really a niche – cosmetic is becoming mainstream and everyone wants a brilliant smile. But it’s not just about money. There’s a huge amount of satisfaction that comes with the job too. Instead of having customers who are there out of painful necessity, you’ve got clients who actively want your skills, expertise and knowledge and appreciate what you’re doing. We get a lot of hugs, thank you cards and presents – That’s fantastic!

Seeing is believing – give us a case study…

One good example would be a young lady from Helen’s Bay – Isobel Meharg. Isobel was conscious of her ‘fang’ (upper canine/eye tooth) sticking out. Isobel wore a ‘frictionless’ Damon brace for 15 months to align her teeth. She wore small elastics 24/7 at the sides to pull her back teeth forward. The braces gave Isobel a straighter, wider smile and maybe most importantly gave her more confidence in her appearance.

And how does Isobel rate the job you did?

This made me feel a lot better and happier. At each step of the way Darren was gentle, whether tightening or changing the wires, always showing me the progress that was happening. Darren is a total perfectionist and I was annoyed in the last month because I thought I would be getting my braces off but he insisted on leaving them on for another three weeks to give me the most perfect smile and it was so worth it! I get complimented on my teeth basically everyday and it’s one of the first things people say to me- wow I love your teeth… And I really love my teeth too.

If you would like to know more about what Darren Cromey can offer, please visit http://walkinstowndentalcare.com/ or telephone .

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