During our visit to Houghton Regis Dental Centre on 14 November 2012 we spoke with seven people who were waiting to see one of the dentists. We also looked at a variety of comments made by people as part of the centre's quality surveys. The comments were all very positive and included, “The staff are very friendly” and “I would have no hesitation to recommend the service to someone else.” We observed reception staff helping people to make appointments that best suited them in an effort to reduce the number of people who failed to attend their appointments.

We spoke with people who told us they felt involved in their treatment. One person said, “The dentist always tells me what he is doing and I feel I can ask questions.” The records that we looked at and the conversations we had with people confirmed that treatment options were discussed with people using the service.

The centre had sufficient processes in place to ensure that treatment was delivered safely. One person said, “I am impressed with the service and feel in safe hands.” All areas of the centre were clean and tidy and there were robust infection control processes in place to ensure people were treated safely.

People told us that they would be confident to make a complaint if it were necessary and we saw that people were given the appropriate information to do so.