Intra-oral scanning
A wand the size of an electric toothbrush replaces impression trays entirely. No gagging, no setting time, and a digital model accurate to about 20 microns.
About the practice
One chair above a bakery,
seventeen years ago
Brightwater was built on a straightforward idea: that people avoid the dentist because they are frightened and confused, and that both of those are fixable.
Our story
We started by asking why people were not coming back
In 2009 Dr Aoife Brennan took a lease on two rooms above a bakery on Marlowe Quay, with one chair, one nurse and a second-hand X-ray unit. She had spent five years as an associate watching patients agree to treatment plans they did not understand, and then quietly not returning.
So the first thing she changed was the clock. A new patient examination at Brightwater was booked for forty minutes rather than fifteen, most of it spent talking. The second thing was the paperwork: every patient left with a printed plan, in plain English, with a price on every line.
It was, commercially speaking, a slightly mad way to run a diary. It also worked. By 2014 the practice had four surgeries and a waiting list; in 2019 we opened the second practice in Sandyford, largely because so many patients were driving in from the south of the city.
We are eleven people now. The forty minutes has never been cut.
How we got here
Seventeen years, in the order they happened
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2009
Two rooms and one chair
Dr Brennan opens Brightwater above Kelleher’s bakery with a single surgery, a nurse called Ciara who is still here, and a forty-minute first appointment nobody else in Dublin 2 was offering.
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2012
The practice moves downstairs
The bakery closes and we take the ground floor: three surgeries, a proper decontamination room and, at last, step-free access from the quay.
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2014
Marta arrives, and the diary stops leaking
Our practice manager introduces the reminder system and the written-plan process that the whole practice now runs on. Missed appointments fall by two thirds in a year.
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2016
Specialist endodontics in-house
Dr Okonkwo joins with a surgical microscope, and we stop referring root canal work across the city. Within two years other practices are referring theirs to us.
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2018
CEREC, and the end of the temporary crown
An intra-oral scanner and a milling unit turn a two-visit crown into a single afternoon. The impression material goes in the bin, unmourned.
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2019
Sandyford opens
Four surgeries, free parking and a second home for patients who were driving into the city centre. Same records, same team, same forty minutes.
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2023
3D imaging and guided implants
A low-dose CBCT scanner lets us plan implant cases in three dimensions and place them through a printed surgical guide — faster, and considerably more predictable.
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Today
Eleven people, 2,400 patients
Still independent, still owner-run, and still refusing to shorten the first appointment.
Technology
Equipment we bought for a reason
We are not interested in gadgets. Each of these replaced something that was slower, less comfortable or less accurate.
CEREC milling
Ceramic crowns designed and milled in the building while you wait. One appointment instead of two, and no temporary crown to come loose over a fortnight.
Low-dose CBCT
Three-dimensional imaging for implant and endodontic planning, at a fraction of the dose of a medical CT. We take one only when it changes the plan.
Operating microscope
Up to 25× magnification for root canal work. It is the single biggest reason Dr Okonkwo can retreat cases that have already failed elsewhere.
Vacuum sterilisation
Class B autoclaves with full cycle logging, plus instrument tracking that records which set was used on which patient. Audited annually.
Air purification
HEPA-14 extraction in every surgery, installed in 2020 and kept since. It also makes the rooms markedly quieter.
The buildings
Designed so the room is not the frightening part
Both practices were fitted out by the same architect, working to a brief that was mostly about noise, daylight and sightlines.
- Daylight in every surgery. Not one treatment room in either practice is internal.
- Acoustic separation. You cannot hear another surgery from the waiting room, which turns out to matter enormously to anxious patients.
- Step-free throughout. Level access from the street, a lift to the first floor at Marlowe Quay, and an accessible WC at both sites.
- A quiet room. A small separate room at each practice for patients who cannot manage a shared waiting area, and for difficult conversations.
- Free parking in Sandyford, and the Luas Green Line is a six-minute walk. Marlowe Quay is served by four bus routes and the Grand Canal Dock DART.
Accreditations & governance
Who holds us to account
Dentistry is a regulated profession, and we think you should be able to see exactly how we are regulated.
Dental Council of Ireland
Every clinician here is on the Register of Dentists or Dental Hygienists, and their registration number is published on their profile. You can verify any of them independently.
Irish Dental Association
A member practice since 2010. We follow the IDA Code of Practice, including its requirements on consent, record keeping and complaints handling.
Radiation protection
Registered with the Environmental Protection Agency for all X-ray equipment, with a named Radiation Protection Adviser and equipment tested on a three-year cycle.
Decontamination
Our sterilisation protocol follows the HSE and Dental Council decontamination guidance, with cycle logs retained for eleven years and an external audit each spring.
Data protection
Registered with the Data Protection Commission. Clinical records are held in the EU, encrypted at rest, and you may request a copy of yours at any time free of charge.
Complaints
A written complaints procedure with a named responsible person, a five-working-day acknowledgement, and the Dental Council’s details if you are not satisfied with our answer.
A note on this page. Brightwater Dental does not exist. The regulators, schemes and standards named above are described only to show how a real practice might present its governance in this template. Replace every claim on this page with your own verified accreditations before you publish, and do not state a registration you do not hold.
Come and see the place
You are welcome to call in, look at the rooms and meet whoever is on the desk before you commit to anything. No appointment needed for that.