News
Irish dental group moves into UK market
Expansion. Smiles Dental buys debt of UK-based group
An Irish dental chain, which has repeatedly defied the recession by expanding in recent years, has moved to acquire more than 70 practices in the UK. Smiles Dental, based in Dublin, have acquired the debt of James Hull Associates (JHA) and it is thought a full purchase of the Cardiff-based group will be forthcoming. JHA has been in business for more than 20 years and currently oper- ates more than 70 practices
throughout the UK. Smiles Dental was set up in 2005 by entrepreneur Emmet O’Neill, initially as a tooth whitening business.
They have since expanded into general dentistry and have grown from 10 to 20 practices in recent years, despite the economic crash. They claim to have treated in the region of 150,000 patients to date.
Speaking about the new cooperation with JHA, O’Neill said: “We wanted to become involved with JHA because we felt that our two companies had much in common and
UCC researcher wins prestigious international award
PRIZE
Dr Gerry McKenna, lecturer in prosthodontics and oral rehabilitation at Cork University Dental School and Hospital, was awarded the Unilever Senior Clinical Hatton Award at the recent International Association for Dental Research (IADR) conference held in Igassu Falls, Brazil.
Gerry travelled to Brazil to represent the Irish Divi- sion after winning the IADR Postgraduate Prize held in Dublin last October. The title of Gerry’s presentation was “Tooth replacement strate- gies for Partially Dentate Elders: a Randomised Controlled Trial”.
Low folic acid and cleft lip and palate
RESEARCH
An Irish study has proposed a link between low folic acid as a cause of cleft lip and palate (CLP).
The Trinity College Dublin research, entitled ‘Growing Up in Ireland’, is supported by the Economic and Social Research Institute and aims to use data
that the partnership would strengthen both businesses. JHA is a strong and well respected company with dental excellence at the heart of its offering. Our hope is that we can use our experi- ence and expertise to work with the team at JHA and continue to grow.
“We’re now focused on identifying how we can make our combined organisations an efficient, profitable company which is well placed to face the challenging conditions of today’s market and which people continue to enjoy working for.”
from 11,000 infants to firmly establish a link between low folic acid and CLP.
Previously, the Cochrane Review has shown a potential link with the development of CLP and low folic acid in the body.
However, these studies lacked sufficient evidence due to insufficient participants. Links between folic acid and spina bifida development exist. However, the link with CLP is not yet confirmed and this is what the Irish study hopes to achieve.
His project was
supervised by Professor Finbarr Allen and Dr Denis O’Mahony from University College Cork, with further contributions from Dr Noel Woods, Dr Michael Cronin, Dr Cristiane DaMata, Professor Albert Flynn and Professor Charles Normand. The project was funded by a grant from the Health Research Board.
Ireland’s Dental magazine 15
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