Smith Dental Practice

I have been a patient of Kate and her team for what must be over 20 years now. I have experienced only the best service and care on every visit. The whole team show understanding and empathy which is always wholly appropriate to the particular circumstances of the visit. Always professional and friendly and I find it difficult to understand how anyone can leave anything other than a positive review.

Had a problem with my wisdom tooth and have only ever been met with genuine care, concern and help. Can’t rate Kate and her team highly enough.

BRILLIANT ! AND I AM FRIGHTENED TO DEATH OF DENTISTS . THEY CARE ABOUT YOU AND REALLY HELP YOU THROUGH THE BAD" BITS . NO PAIN WHATSOEVER PERHAPS A " STING " WITH THE JABS . CANT THANK THEM ENOUGH THEY HAVE SAVED MY TEETH ."

I was very anxious about my appointment today but Kate was really reassuring and helpful as was Ollie, the dental nurse.

Fantastic team, extremely caring and professional, you won’t find a better dentist anywhere. Thank you Kate and your team regards Neil Worthington

Shocking. This dentist thinks it’s okay to let someone leave the practice with a broken tooth. No support or any empathy. They also are shocking at admin. We got given a prescription with no name on which meant we couldn’t get the antibiotics they fobbed us off with in the first place. Sooner this place is a charity shop like everywhere else in Bakewell the better. Robbing a living posing as a dentist

Not now listed on NHS England as a provider of NHS services. Not a regular group practice, so problems with more urgent care if Kate is not available for a significant amount of time, which happened this summer. I've had good, but mainly bad replacement experiences in the past when Kate isn't there, some of which have cost the practice. There are no confirmation /reminders sent by landline/email. They might send sms by mobile, but this is a problem for me since I rarely use mine as it doesn't work in our house, & I haven't had an sms reminder sent from them as far as I know. Furthermore, I & another patient, were taken aback that practice policy had changed & payment for NHS fillings was required in advance. There is no information publically on display or on website about NHS/private charges & policy. Nor this time was was I given a copy of my treatment plan, despite having paid for it in advance. On my last check up I fed back that some of a composite filling had chipped off & the tooth was now showing sensitivity when eating certain foods. I was told that an xray & examination showed the filling was sound, & it could be monitored or she could replace it, seeing as it was old. I said I wanted to replace. I then felt uncertain, since unneeded work on a deep filling can do more damage than good, so 3 weeks later I decided to get an extensive private check up which did a surround xray of my whole mouth & a digital 3d examination of the surface at Springmount in Matlock, for £150. This was very helpful. While it is hard to see by mere visual examination, the digital picture very clearly showed where the filling had come away. It did this, I think, because a composite layer had been added shortly after being done due to me complaining about sharp cliff edges and it not being filled enough. However, it had been put right, & had lasted over 12 years. The image also showed where it was generally coming away from the tooth a bit, no longer providing a good seal. They were able to recommend conclusively with understandable evidence, that a replacement was needed soon. To my suprise, however, they also picked up a cavity in the only upper RHS molar I have left, which needed urgent treatment. It is now starting to hurt. Other major molars had been removed previously due to overcrowding & damage caused by eating lead shot going undetected by a previous associate at the practice. I ended up with a crown which didn't fit as well as the temporary crown, & had dentine, or whatever is underneath, exposed at the side. I complained to Kate about this on fitting but this was ignored .Admittedly 3 years later, I complained about it being painful & infected. I had just had bad listeria poisoning from some Morrisons Herbs.This was during lockdown. Kate gave me antibiotics that cleared it, but soon after the crown sheared off. I then had to have its remaining post removed & was berrated when I cancelled an appointment to do this on reaching the surgery since I was rapidly coming down with covid/cold like symptoms as I was waiting. Later testing was negative, & it may just have been terror of the upcoming ordeal, in a small unventillated room, only recently vacated by the previous client, being given a less than scant clean by an assistant. Kate wasn't using her her normal room since she had given that to the hygienist as their work creates a lot of spray. However, one thing this surgery is actually good at is hygiene & Kate has put in a lot of measures to protect her, staff & clients. She can't afford people being off ,& now has a reliable diligent team to replace the inexperienced youngsters she was struggling with during lockdown. However, I was upset by my treatment, especially bearing in mind the number of times I had been fairly recently cancelled, combined with being sent erronius email appointment confirmations. Returning to my rotten tooth, problems can develop quickly, but it shook my confidence that Kate might have missed this. I decided to cancel my filling , & look for another dentist.