"My name is Dave (now 53) and I have been receiving treatment under the outstanding practice owner, Mr Colin Houston since 2004 at the Thorpe Lea Dental practice.

It would be fair to say that Colin had his work cut out as, other than an emergency tooth extraction some 10 years before (at another practice) I had not been to a dentist for 15 years when I eventually turned up at Thorpe Lea practice having seemed to contract some kind of Dental anxiety or phobia that kept me out of these places for so long. Bottom line was I did not have a Dentist but both my son and daughter were attending the practice from a young age to go through the necessary stages of youth dentistry and whilst I cannot say with certainty that they enjoyed it they were certainly not where I believe I would have been emotionally, returning with a certain aura of achievement. How I envied them, acting all father like and brave when deep inside I was terrified knowing I would need to go sooner rather than later.

I took the plunge and with an amazing reception from Colin’s front of house team I was welcomed personally by him and shown into a room that I deemed akin to a horror movie or at the very least a scene from Finding Nemo.

Shown to a seat, handed some safety glasses and after a brief chat and introduction to Colin’s assistant I did, with no small amount of terror and embarrassment open my mouth to show a stranger into a place not seen for nearly a generation.

We need not go into details however, I am still a patient, there has been many staff pass through during my time both in the Surgery, Reception, Hygienists and other Dentists but Colin has always remained constant and from that 1st terrifying visit in 2004 I have never wanted to be anywhere else to have my teeth fixed.

Colin is a gently spoken man with interests in things outside of the mouth and clearly a true family man that I do actually consider to be something more than a dentist to me. I love the way that he deals with his staff both in and out of the surgery in a clear, soft and confident way and they all seem to pick up on this demeanour and reciprocate, always nurturing and training. I have had more work done than I hope anyone reading this either has to or will need to but as well as the necessary treatments it is the after treatment care, the content of information provided and most importantly the detailed and simple preventative measures to ensure that I would not suffer the same damage going forward.

So, 19 years have elapsed, and I was there for my final crown fitting just last week. 19 years some may say is a very long time but trust me I had not been looking after them up to then and there is only one gap at the back from the extraction I mentioned earlier. Recently, I overheard Colin talking to his assistant stating that my gum was “in excellent condition” I was both happy and proud. That’s as much down to Colin and his team as it is me doing the “homework”.

So in summary, Thorpe Lea Dental Practice is an amazing, friendly, almost family practice that has a brilliant dentist and an amazing team that support state of the art dentistry, a very clean and functional premises where everyone seems to have an almost magical empathy towards their patients. I was going to say customers but can honestly say that in all my time there I have never felt that I was customer, but part of the family and that everything was done in the interests of me, my mouth, teeth and oral hygiene.

Thank you Team Thorpe Lea Dental"