Tiwari Watson Dental Blog

I haven’t been writing blogs as I’ve been avoiding the internet for a while since Man City apparently won a few trophies. It’s paid off as I’ve seen very little about it, so as far as I’m concerned, nothing actually happened. The last I heard they were cheating loads then the season just ended, nobody actually won 🤷🏻‍♂️. It was basically a big giant draw and we’re starting again soon. My younger brother Nathan, on the other hand, did have a big win – as of last week he’s the new Australasian Middleweight boxing champion, the first ever Irishman to hold this title:

Congratulations Champ – very proud!

I wish I had some of his talent in the ring but as the old saying goes – I couldn’t box eggs. Serendipitously though we have created an ideal family business with a professional boxer and a dentist. Onwards and upwards for Team Watson 💪🏼 😷.

At work we had our own physical challenge last month – we completed the Tough Mudder obstacle course, raising over £2000 for our chosen charities (Scottish Autism & Alzheimer’s Scotland). When I say ‘we’ I mean everyone else. Sadly I couldn’t compete as I was still recovering from knee surgery. I managed to make it to the FA Cup final that day instead but I left before they presented the ‘Draw’ trophy to both teams 😕. Well done to the rest of Team TWDC for their efforts and thanks to all our patients, family and friends for helping us raise money for the 2 amazing charities!

Very proud of the team – great effort! (special thanks to the ringers we pulled in too 👍🏼)

We’ve got a more relaxing work event this month with an overnight visit to Crieff Hydro Hotel & Spa planned as a treat for the whole team. Glad to say my knee is back to full strength for that ☺️. It’s a reward for all the hard work & dedication our staff have given us over the past year, we’ve been incredibly busy in that time and the support they have given is invaluable, safe to say we’re all looking forward to a well deserved nice day/night away!

After Crieff it’s back to the day job and hopefully another busy second half of the year. We’ve got some lovely patient success stories to share soon and some big structural changes ahead for TWDC in the not too distant future. Watch this space 👀.

Thanks for reading & take care,

Joe

Joseph Watson BDS MFDS RCPS MSc (Implantology)

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http://www.tiwariwatsondentalcare.co.uk

I used to write these blogs a bit more often but now that the kids can use a spoon themselves I’ve been topping up on some much needed beauty sleep on a Sunday morning instead. There’s still a bit of a hibernation required on that front but it’s nice to get a wee extra hour on a Sunday, our oldest is 6 so she’s practically an adult now and can look after the other two anyway.

Poor Raashi has been running about after me too for a while though after I managed to rupture the tendons in my knee playing football. I did the exact same thing a year ago (playing football again) and thought I was back to full fitness but in my first game back I lasted 20 minutes until the other one went. To make it worse Raashi actually predicted it and even said on my way out the door, “I don’t have a good feeling about this, why don’t you just go out for pints instead?” For a second I did contemplate cashing in that absolute golden ticket but any footballers out there will know sometimes the urge to ‘kick a baw’ is just too great. It was an over 35’s Friday night league so I told Raashi (& myself) it would more or less be walking football anyway. That wasn’t quite the case and any residual hopes I had of ‘making it’ as a pro disappeared with the last kick of my career being a terrible left foot shot over the bar as my right knee buckled beneath me. I really should have followed Raashi’s advice given that 1) my knee’s are clearly made of chocolate, 2) I’m an absolutely terrible footballer and finally 3), pints on a Friday night.

Thankfully it’s improving rapidly even though my leg is now the width of a strand of spaghetti. I’m desperate to make it back for our works charity event in the summer, Tough Mudder. That might be quite ambitious but I’m determined to do what I can, the surgeon even said that the stuff they put into my knee makes it ‘stronger than ever’.

The thought of giving football another go did cross my mind when the doc said that but I’ve been well warned by pretty much everyone else that I need to stick to watching it now. I’m actually fine with that as my team aren’t that rubbish any more. When it happened last year, feeling sorry for me, Manchester United put Raashi & I in complimentary box for a game we were going to, we even got to meet Fred the Red here. I chanced my arm this year again but they think I’m at it now.

I had a bit of time off work for this so apologies to anyone we had to reschedule and thankfully we seem to have caught back up now. I was delighted yesterday to finish a dental implant case that took over a year for our lovely patient Matthew here:

Matthew was recommended by his wife Hazel, both just lovely people, what a pleasure it was to treat them! We’ll be sharing some of the results later so keep an eye out.

Take care all and have a great week ahead,

Joe

Joseph Watson BDS MFDS RCPS MSc (Implantology)

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http://www.tiwariwatsondentalcare.co.uk

Almost into month 2 of 2023 already! Where does the time go?! We’ve all had those moments where we forget what day it is but I took that to a whole new level and had a brief moment during the week where I wasn’t actually sure what year it was for a second. I think the COVID years threw me off (as we all know they don’t count) along with the Winter World Cup. It took me a second to realise it was 2023 and not 2024 already, time is flying but not that fast thankfully.

I had my 35th this month too and believe it or not it was actually one of my favourite birthdays. I was woken up with a McDonalds breakfast and some lovely gifts from the kids, had a birthday cake at work and a party of treats when I got home. Manchester United were playing that night and Raashi was bringing me beer and salt and chilli chips while we were 1-0 up. I remember thinking 35th’s are absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately, being 35 not 25, I should have seen the 94th minute equaliser coming as United drew 1-1. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Thankfully there was no last minute disappointments when Raashi and I visited Old Trafford a few weeks before this when I was only a spring 34 year old:

3-0 to United at this one. Not sure what year it was.

At work we’ve just booked one of our charity events for this year too, we’ll be competing in ‘Tough mudder’ in June. Most of the team will be taking part and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s basically an obstacle course including some underwater parts and even electric shock hazards. I’ll need to go easy on the salt and chilli chips in preparation for that one but I’m sure it will be good fun and hopefully we’ll raise a lot of money!

I’ll need to cut back on the last minute visits to the kitchen cupboard too. I’ve developed this habit of standing at the cupboard (half inside it), just before bed, eating crips/nuts/biscuits/whatever I can salvage. It’s a totally unnecessary extra pre bed meal. A wee electric shock cupboard handle might help my preparation in more ways than one!

We’ve all got plenty of time to get fit for it but it seems we’re in for a shock regardless. Buzzing. ⚡️😏

Take care all and have a good week ahead,

Joe

Joseph Watson BDS MFDS RCPS MSc (Implantology)

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Looking forward to a lazy Sunday today after a very busy weekend last week. Raashi and I were on a 3 day dental course last Friday, Saturday & Sunday from 8.30am-6pm every day. It was all about the latest techniques for making crowns (porcelain or gold teeth.) It was pretty full on after working the rest of the week too, maybe even more full on for Raashi’s mum who had the kids the whole time though, think she deserved a crown of her own after it!

Raashi and I putting in the overtime at the Attiq Rahman precision dentistry course

These practice models are great as you can remove all the teeth, fix them, then stick them back in. If only it was as easy as that in real life! Our whole team have been putting in the effort with the CPD (training and development) lately actually. Some of our nurses, dentists and therapists have been on courses all over the UK this year learning new skills. It’s something I’m very proud of to be honest, we have a great team that push themselves to improve so we can continually provide better patient care. We also shut the practice for a day and had an in house event this month with a communication skills coach:

Ashley here came all the way up from Manchester to deliver some training for us. He also happens to be a big Man United fan so you can guess what I wanted to communicate with him about!

It was nice to see our hard work recognised by our peers this month as we were finalists at the Dentistry Scotland Awards 2022. We were nominated for a number of awards and won the categories of Best Charity/Community Project and Best Team. Our very own Laura Grant was a finalist for the Best Young Dentist Award too! That’s another couple of trophies in the bag for our reception area – makes up for Man United not being able to win any lately!

We’re thinking of having a Sunday lunch of champions today and heading to McD’s for the new McCrispy. My only issue is that I had one last night for my dinner as Raashi was out. Now she wants one for lunch and I don’t think I can handle being a mere spectator! If you haven’t had one yet, get involved – they are just sublime. For the ultimate win, stick some chips in the burger too. Our kids never eat all their happy meal chips either so I tend to go around and Henry the hoover them up afterwards. Happy meals really do just make everyone happy.

My daughter Mila has been doing the same with jokes that she’s learning from school lately too, she told me one the other day about dentists: “What did the monster eat after getting his teeth pulled out? …….The dentist!” The monster clearly hadn’t tried the McCrispy yet…

Take care all and have a good week,

Joe

www.tiwariwatsondentalcare.co.uk

Joseph Watson BDS MFDS RCPS MSc (Implantology)

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http://www.tiwariwatsondentalcare.co.uk

It wasn’t the best of starts to the week at TWDC as we had a power supply failure on Tuesday morning. We’re very sorry to the patients who unfortunately had to have their appointments rescheduled as we waited on Scottish Power to save the day for us. They were actually in the day before, upgrading our whole system so that we can accommodate more electric car chargers in the future for patients and staff (watch this space.) I was actually impressed at how quickly they managed to get someone out to get it sorted for us, but given the cost of keeping the lights on these days I suppose I can see why!

Raashi and I were just back from a few days in Marbella too – first time abroad since the pandemic began, it was brilliant! I briefly thought about the no carbs before marbs diet, but then quickly sacked that idea off as carbs are just brilliant and I love them all. Fair play to these people who can maintain tip top beach bods, I did try to get in better shape but at the end of the day I just love to sit on the sofa and eat crisps 🤷🏻‍♂️.

We went with 4 friends and left the kids at home in the very capable hands of the grandparents. I think they got on OK as my own son Ronan was calling me Grandpa for a few days when I got back, either that or perhaps the holiday put a few years on me. My mum even said to go ahead and book the same holiday next year though 🎰!

We hit another jackpot this week as TWDC reached 300 google reviews, 4.9* overall. Thanks so much to all our patients for taking the time to leave us feedback – it means so much. We read any new reviews or feedback out during our morning meetings so it’s always nice start to the day when patients mention certain team members etc.

I left the hotel in Marbs a 5* review. Everything was brilliant about it but randomly there were free toothbrush kits everywhere. How could I not 5* that!?

Speaking of partying, it wasn’t such a good week for the occupants of the UK’s top party venue, number 10 Downing Street. At the end of these blogs I usually write ‘have a good week all’. I wonder if someone said the same thing to Liz Truss and Kwazi Kwarteng last Sunday. Safe to say it didn’t work for them if so! 🤦🏻‍♂️

Hope anyone reading this has better luck – have a good week all!

Joe

Joseph Watson BDS MFDS RCPS MSc (Implantology)

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It’s been a very busy period at TWDC lately so it’s been nice to see our staff enjoy some well deserved time off/holidays over this past few months. Raashi and I spent a week in Ireland with the kids and went to my mums caravan, we also spent a few days in London without the kids. It was interesting to feel the difference in travelling with and without the baggage (although we did take bags). It was mayhem on the trip to Ireland, total bliss en route to London. I honestly didn’t even mind queuing up at security for the London trip….. ‘Take your time mate, would you like me to take my shoes off?’ …I said without a worry as we breezed our way through, smugly looking at the parents with infants causing havoc …’suckers’.

I made the most of the quiet time and had a snooze on the flight, poor Raashi had to watch me fly catching the whole time as I woke up thinking we were just about to take off when the pilot announced ‘cabin crew prepare for landing.’

Thankfully I managed to stay awake for a large proportion of the rest of the trip and we had a lovely time. There is just tons to do in London. We saw a play (Hamilton, – unreal btw), went to a jazz bar (Ronnie Scotts – also unreal), Notting Hill carnival, a comedy show and all the sights. We had some great food and drink along the way too.

Selfie O’clock at Big Ben. We tried to do a tour of the houses of parliament but it was closed unfortunately. I guess they closed after Boris Johnsons revolutionary money saving idea….spend £20 on a new kettle, to save £10 a year on bills, …quids in from year 3. I can imagine them all clapping and saying ‘here here’ then just closing up shop – energy pricing crisis solved, job done.

Michael Corr – the artist painting our wall at the practice, truly got the job done after a few weeks of graft and it’s looking absolutely brilliant. What a talent he is. We’re really happy with it and hope our patients like it too:

Much better than staring at a blank wall on the way in so hopefully this provides at least some mild form of relaxation for our more nervous patients prior to attending!

I tried to paint a picture of the view from my mums caravan recently, naively thinking I could make a decent go at it. It’s embarrassingly terrible so I have a new found respect for real artists and think I’ll be sticking to the day job from now on.

Before starting back to said day job I’m excited for Manchester United v Arsenal today followed by Kev-i-n Bridges later on tonight. Might even get a wee late night Chinese to finish off the weekend, no hoose rice though.

Take care all and have a good week ahead,

Joe

Joseph Watson BDS MFDS RCPS MSc (Implantology)

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http://www.tiwariwatsondentalcare.co.uk

So our team made it to the top of the UK’s highest summit Ben Nevis on Saturday – raising nearly £3000 for Marie Curie in the process! Thank you to all of our patients, friends and family for the generous donations – all very welcome. For anyone who would still like to contribute, our donation page will be open for another couple of days and can be found here:

I really enjoyed it but I never want to hear the phrase ‘nearly there’ again. This was used an awful lot on Saturday and 99% of the time it was a total lie. I found myself automatically spreading the fake news to people on my way back down though. “Nearly there” I said smugly as I passed by people on their way up – knowing full well they were absolutely not nearly there. Unfortunately this tactic came back to bite me as the further we got down and the car park came into view, it then seemed to stop getting any closer for the next 2 hours at least. ‘Nearly there’ we were saying to each other while scratching our heads and staring at the car park mirage…

The views were similar in the sense that 99% of them were not so great, basically nothing but feet and rocks for most of it, but when we got the chance to look up that other 1% was absolutely stunning and well worth it:

Raashi and I had a well deserved Chinese takeaway once we got back and even went for the double whammy and had the leftovers for lunch the next day – probably undoing all of our hard work calorie wise! I try not to count calories too often to be honest as I find it too depressing, 50 calories on the running machine/rower/bike feels like so much hard work, a total graft – and it’s about the equivalent of the head of a Freddo – which is gone in seconds! Not fair.

This week it seems our summer has finally arrived with a 2 day heat wave on the cards. Proper taps aff weather. It’s hard to know if this is just summer finally here, or is 30 degrees in Glasgow a worrying sign of climate change? Taps aff for us normally starts at about 19 degrees and cloudy. At 30 degrees sunshine we’re really approaching taps back oan and stay in the shade kind of weather!

Thankfully all our surgeries and waiting area are fully air conditioned – for 2 days a year it comes in very handy indeed. That’s taps oan for all our patients and staff!

Thanks again to everyone for all the kind donations, very much appreciated! Here’s that link again for anyone that can still contribute:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tiwari-watsondentalcare1

Take care in the sun and have a good week all,

Joe

Joseph Watson BDS MFDS RCPS MSc (Implantology)

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Having moved into a new house recently the blog has taken a back seat for a while. We’ve been knee deep in boxes of what seems to be mainly children’s toys & random items we’ll probably never ever use. It’s amazing how much completely useless stuff we all hold on to thinking we’ll use it one day. I’ve still got my old GCSE Italian listening exam tapes just incase…🤷🏻‍♂️

This has occupied most of our weekends lately but we did manage to have a lovely work day out with the staff recently too. We went to Loch Lomond for some Highland games, followed by lunch and then a speedboat pub tour around the Loch:

It was great fun and I was delighted to win my first medal since school when team ‘Mac & cheese’ lifted the Highland games cup at the end. Our patients may have noticed the new trophy proudly taking centre stage in our reception area cabinet (it’s the one that looks like an egg cup).

We’re all hoping to add to our trophy cabinet in a couple of weeks as we take on Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK; to raise money for Marie Curie Hospice in Balornock. Sadly, there’s no actual trophy, but a team photo at the top would be a nice enough reward (should we all make it!) None of us have trained for it but we’re taking a couple of seasoned pro’s along to help keep us right. One of them is our nurse Bili’s boyfriend Grieg, he’s done it before and is therefore in charge of directions. The other is our patient Matthew who hasn’t done it before but he is a personal trainer. He’s therefore in charge of the piggy back shuttle runs for those of us who can’t make it any further. I’m really not sure how my dodgy knee will cope (or my dodgy ankle on the other side) so I’ll insist on a team photo at the bottom too, before we start, ….just incase.

If you can donate to help us raise as much as possible that would be very much appreciated – TIA!:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tiwari-watsondentalcare1

Back on ground level we’ve got some work starting at the practice just now too. We never got round to painting our wall at the back of the practice before opening up but we’ve finally managed to get it sorted now:

Micheal is an artist and has now made a start on our ‘canvas’ – so watch this space! At home I started painting our decking with a spray paint a while ago too and as I surveyed my masterpiece at the end I turned around and realised the wind had caught the paint and it went all over the car so just a head’s up for patients – park around the front for the next couple of weeks 😂 🤦🏻‍♂️. I’ll be sticking to the day job.

Speaking of which:

I just fitted this implant denture this week for one of our patients. Is it strange of me to really appreciate that noise? I know a lot of people hate anything to do with teeth or dentures, but anyone who unfortunately has to wear one will know that full bottom dentures move around so much and can be a total nightmare to manage. We do a lot of these type of cases where just 2 dental implants help hold it in place and make it so much easier to cope. If you’d like to find out more please just get in touch!

Take care all and hopefully by my next blog team Mac n cheese will have ‘peaked’ in our achievements.

Joe

Joseph Watson

BDS MFDS RCPS MSc (Implantology)

http://www.tiwariwatsondentalcare.co.uk

It’s been a busy few weeks at Tiwari Watson Dental Care! Our patients will have noticed we’re allowed more people in the waiting room as we can see more patients now compared to earlier on in the pandemic. Our waiting times are unfortunately still quite long so I’m working on plans to extend if possible, bring in some more staff and bring those waiting times down! I’d also love to have enough space to re-install a shower in the building so that I can cycle to work. When we first moved over to our new premises we had to sacrifice the shower to make way for a bigger staff room. My cycle dreams were therefore over before they started as who would want a smelly dentist treating them 🤢😷

I need a new form of exercise now that my football career is over (1. dislocated my knee, 2. too old, 3. terrible footballer) so I’m thinking cycling could be the answer. At the minute it’s golf but I don’t think that’s enough cardio wise, and anyway I’d undo all my hard work at the 19th hole 🍻. I think I’m also in with a shout of being the worst golfer in Scotland (starting to realise I’m not actually great at sport in general) but I guess that means more steps/exercise trying to find my ball after every shot 🤷🏻‍♂️

Running about after the kids seems to be the best exercise I have at the moment. I had a dad my age in at work this week doing the same with his young daughter too. It was actually his daughters appointment and when I asked “is it just a check up today?” he panicked and said ’God I don’t know I was just told to bring her here at this time.’ It really made me laugh as I absolutely sympathised with the situation. Us guys are frequently told what to do re: after-school clubs, sports, parties, appointments etc. It might not be the best exercise but I think my fellow dad had a sweat on for a wee second at least 😆

Raashi and I had a wee break from running about after the kids last month when we went to old Trafford to see Manchester United. I emailed the club to see if we could swap seats because of my knee and they put us in a box for FREE! 😂:

Speaking of big changes some of our patients will have seen on our website & social media that we can now make dentures/retainers/crowns/veneers/whitening trays straight from intra-oral scans, meaning no more messy old school moulds/impressions of your teeth. Check out our nurse Tiegan doing a scan for one of our patients and the accuracy of the final result:

If Manchester United are the equivalent of taking slow, messy impressions, the scanner is so much quicker and better – a bit like Manchester City or Liverpool. Pains me to say that but its true!

Have a good week all and take care!

Joe

Joseph Watson BDS MFDS RCPS MSc (Implantology)

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