Five Years of AK Dental Care

As AK Dental Care reaches its fifth anniversary, I have found myself thinking a lot about how far we have come.

I joined AK on 11 October 2021, before we had even opened our doors to patients. At that point there was still building work, endless jobs to finish, plans being made and a huge amount of excitement mixed with the occasional moment of wondering whether everything would actually come together.

Then, on 3 November 2021, we opened.

And somehow, five years have passed.

When I look around the practice now, it is hard to believe how much has changed.

The team has grown. The building has grown. The treatments we offer have grown. We have welcomed new clinicians, new nurses, new patients and new referring dentists. We have started Study Clubs, developed new services, built new surgeries and continued to find new ways of doing things better.

But the part I am most proud of is not really the building, the equipment or even how busy the practice has become.

It is the people.

I feel incredibly lucky to be part of this team.

Every person brings something different. We have the calm ones, the energetic ones, the organised ones, the chaotic ones, the people who quietly get on with everything and the people who somehow manage to make us laugh when we probably should not be laughing.

We have people who have been here almost from the beginning, people who joined along the way, and people who have moved on but somehow still remain part of the wider AK family.

That says a lot about the sort of place AK has become.

Of course, it is not perfect.

There are tough days.

There are days when the phones do not stop, the diary changes, something breaks, someone is running late, somebody needs help and everyone seems to need something at exactly the same time.

There are days when we are tired, frustrated or stretched.

But somehow, we make it through.

And more importantly, we make it through together.

That is probably what I have learnt most over these five years. A great team is not a team that never has difficult days. It is a team that can have difficult days, support each other, have the awkward conversations when they are needed, laugh when they can, and come back the next day ready to do it all again.

There is a genuine sense at AK that people care.

We care about our patients. We care about doing things properly. We care about the dentists who trust us with their patients. And, increasingly, I think we understand how important it is that we care about each other too.

I have also had the privilege of watching Anish's original idea develop into the practice we have today.

Anyone who knows Anish will know that there is rarely a shortage of ideas. Keeping an eye on him remains one of my more challenging responsibilities!

But underneath the chaos, the open cupboard doors, the snacks and the dad jokes is someone who cares deeply about his patients, his team and what AK Dental Care stands for.

And I think that has shaped the culture of the practice more than anything else.

Five years ago, we were opening the doors and hoping people would come.

Today, we have a growing multidisciplinary team, a strong referral community, Study Clubs, new surgeries being developed upstairs and plans that seem to get bigger every year.

But I hope we never lose what made AK special in the first place.

The feeling that people matter.

The feeling that doing the right thing matters.

And the feeling that, whatever kind of day we are having, we are in it together.

For me personally, it is a real privilege to have been here from almost the very beginning and to have watched so many people become part of the story.

I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved, but even more grateful for the people I get to work alongside.

To everyone who has been part of AK Dental Care over the last five years — whether you are still here every day, have moved on to a new adventure, or remain part of the family from a little further away... thank you.

You have all helped make AK what it is.

Five years in, we have certainly come a long way.

And something tells me we are still only getting started.

Zoe Handford

Practice Manager & Head Dental Nurse