A NEW dental practise in Caversham has opened with a little help from soap royalty.
Actor Rudolf Walker was in attendance as Prospect Street Advanced Dentistry opened another branch, across the road from its current home.
Mr Walker is known for his long-running role as Patrick Trueman in Eastenders, as well as other roles such as PC Gladstone in The Thin Blue Line.
However he swapped shouts of ‘cut’ for cutting the ribbon at the official opening ceremony for the new branch as it welcomed its first patients.
More than £1 million has been invested in the new facility on Prospect Street, Caversham, which was overhauled from its previous occupants, Jennings the Butchers.
It contains three new surgeries, catering for 3,000 new private patients, and provides advanced dental services such as implantology, specialist gum care, and straightening.
The existing practise, just across the road, will remain in use to increase capacity, though the new branch is more accessible for wheelchair users and those with mobility difficulty.
Dr Eileen Buckley, Principal Dentist at Prospect Street Dental said:
“Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, demand for dental care has been unprecedented, limiting access to dental services for many.
“As healthcare professionals caring for local patients since 1975, this has concerned us greatly, so we set to work on plans for our extension to increase our capacity to provide local private dental care and advanced dental services.
“We often get asked about availability of NHS dental care and I empathise with patients’ frustrations trying to access this.
“Unfortunately, we only have a restricted NHS child only contract here which we are willing but unable to extend due to limits on availability imposed by local commissioning boards.”
