Illume — 'Your brighter path to dental care'

Here at Illume, we’re always looking for new techniques, technologies and devices that make it easier to maintain a healthy mouth, so on Saturday we decided to pay the Dentistry Show at the NEC a visit to see some of the latest developments in the dental industry.

The day proved extremely interesting – we saw a number of new products including some new interdental brushes that will make cleaning between teeth far easier; we’ll be trialling these brushes shortly to make sure they’re as good as they looked! We also bought some new Cleankeys keyboards for the treatment rooms which are easier to clean – we wipe our keyboards between every client appointment in order to maintain the highest levels of cross infection control.

But the highlight of our day was a lecture by Nicki Rowland. Nicki and her husband Gary set up an independent dental practice in 2006 which has since won many awards for its initiatives in practice. One such initiative was the introduction of an oral cancer screening and referral programme which has since been recognised as a suitable strategy for oral cancer management in general practice by The Mouth Cancer Foundation.

Nicki will be acting as a consultant to assist in the development and implementation of a brand new national accreditation scheme, The Mouth Cancer Screening Accreditation Scheme (MCSAS) which has been set up to recognise practices that demonstrate a commitment to the early detection of oral cancer, a strategic referral process and oral cancer advocacy and awareness.

Illume is one of 100 practices that have been chosen to pilot the new programme, and the only one taking part in Cheltenham – watch this space for more details coming shortly.

It’s official – Illume is one of Cheltenham’s Best Loved businesses! This year’s ’14 Days of Love’ campaign run by Thebestof... network asked people to vote for their favourite local businesses to find the UK’s most loved companies.

Illume received a fabulous 112 recommendations from happy customers during the 14 day campaign and only just missed out on the top spot for the whole of Cheltenham – Beauty Beyond  pipped us to the post with 118 votes. And in the dentists’ category which covered the whole of the UK – we came an amazing third, missing out on second place by just ONE VOTE!!

Illume’s non-clinical director, Alison Rumney, says, “We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of our clients that voted for us – we’re really proud that we’re so highly thought of by our clients that so many of them have taken the time to vote for us. We’d also like to pass on our congratulations to Beauty Beyond for coming first.”

Recommendations for Illume included one from regular client, Sara L, who was rewarded for uploading her vote by winning the last prize in the 14 day daily draw – a trip for two to Madam Tussauds and the London Eye! Sara’s recommendation said, “They treat me like a person not a number. Illume are a great example of personal service.” Thanks Sara and well done!! We hope you enjoy your prize and we look forward to hearing all about it at your next appointment.

If you want to find out what makes Illume one of Cheltenham’s best loved businesses, why not give us a call on 01242 522230 to arrange a visit? We’d love to show you around and discuss how we can help you love your smile!

You can view all of the results of the 14 Days of Love campaign by visiting www.thebestof.co.uk/loveometer.

Illume often receives lovely feedback from its clients and the next two weeks offer an opportunity to tell people far and wide about our great service and bag the chance of a great prize while you’re at it!

We’re taking part in ThebestofCheltenham’s ‘14 Days of Love’ campaign to find the best loved businesses in Cheltenham in the run-up to Valentine’s Day. Visitors to Thebestof sites across the UK are being invited to vote for their favourite local businesses to be in with the chance of winning a fabulous prize every day!

The Cheltenham based businesses with the most votes in each category will be awarded ‘Cheltenham’s Best Loved Business’ status and entered into the national awards to be named one of the ‘UK’s Best Loved Businesses’.

If you’ve received a great service from us, help spread the word by voting at www.thebestof.co.uk/loveometer. Prizes in the daily draw include a Ferrari Driving Experience at Silverstone, Afternoon Tea at the Ritz, a trip on The Orient Express and lots more – so get voting!

And if you’ve got a dental appointment booked over the next two weeks, you can vote for us while you’re here - the computer in our consulting room will be hosting the recommendation page every day so all you need to do is fill in the details and wait to see if you’re a lucky prize winner!

Good luck!

November has been designated ‘Mouth Cancer Action Month’ by the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) to raise awareness about the disease which, according to the BDHF, has seen cases increase in the UK by almost 50% in the last decade.

Cheltenham based dental practice, Illume, is keen to raise awareness of the vital role dentists can play in detecting this potentially lethal illness in its early stages to increase the chances of survival. The BDHF predicts that without early detection, approximately 30,000 people in the UK could die because of mouth cancer in the next ten years.

Illume owner, Dr Tim Rumney, says, “Dentists are ideally placed to spot any warning signs that mouth cancer may be present, but only if people attend surgeries for regular check-ups. Clients tend to think of dentists as only looking after their teeth, but in actual fact we check all aspects of oral health during check-ups – or ‘healthy mouth reviews’ as we call them.”

The BDHF has identified a number of risk factors associated with mouth cancer. More obvious factors include smoking, alcohol consumption and poor diet, but the HPV virus has also been identified as a cause in a study undertaken in the US – particularly amongst young people.

Symptoms can include ulcers that don’t heal within three weeks, red and white patches in the mouth or unusual lumps or swellings. Illume’s dental team has referred a number of clients to hospital to seek further attention following routine check-ups - leading to treatment in some cases.

Dr Rumney continues, “Thanks to high profile public health campaigns, people are aware of some of the symptoms of certain diseases including breast and skin cancer, but other cancers are less well-known. Dental teams play a vital role in both raising awareness of mouth cancer and identifying patients who may be at risk.”

The BDHF’s campaign, ‘If in doubt, get checked out’ will be running throughout November – visit www.mouthcancer.org for more details.

As a progressive organisation, Illume is constantly looking at ways of engaging and communicating with our clients.

Following the success of this blog, Illume has now launched a facebook page and twitter profile where we'll be sharing news and views from our team of dentists and oral healthcare professionals, as well as from the wider dental industry.

Non-clinical director, Alison Rumney, comments, “Illume recognises the fast pace at which people now live their lives, and whilst we like to take our time and offer a truly personal service, we understand that people have less and less time to find the information that they need. We’ll be using our social media channels to share not only our news, but also updates and developments from the industry that we think will be of interest to our clients.”

As a family run business, Illume prides itself on the level of service it offers clients. From healthy mouth reviews to spot any issues before they become problems, to Illume membership offering personalised payment plans, the Queen’s Road based team always makes sure it takes the time to listen to clients to identify the best course of action.

Alison continues, “Dentist Tim Rumney has been practicing at this site for 25 years now and local people are used to seeing his face along with other dentists, Adrian Jones and Sarah Moore, around town on our two ‘Illume’ cars. Our social media channels are another way of directly communicating with customers – giving useful advice   and saving them precious time.”

If you’d like to keep up with Illume online follow @IllumeDentistry on twitter or like Illume.Dentistry on facebook.