Dr Robin Horton

Practice Principal

BDS Royal London Hospital

I am the owner and principal dentist at Wayside. I qualified in 1990 from the Royal London Hospital and, after working as an SHO in the Oral Surgery Department at Bedford Hospital, have worked in general practice ever since, mostly at Wayside!

I am passionate about continued learning and embracing innovation. What we can achieve in dentistry has changed so much in the 30 odd years I have been working and it is exciting to still be at the cutting edge.

At Wayside we have more dental lasers than any other practice in Europe and these, though costly to us, but at no additional cost to you, make a huge difference to treatment and treatment outcomes. I am a fellow of both the Academy of Laser Dentistry and the World Clinical Laser Institute and teach for both of these organisations.

We have digital x-rays and CTs, intra-oral scanners for impressions and data, EMS Airflow for our hygiene treatments, and a milling machine and 3D printers so we can make dental restorations and devices on site. This technology greatly improves the care we can provide to you.

My main interest is in dental implant placement and a few years ago I was one of the first dentists in the UK to trial X-Guide 3D Dynamic Navigation. I of course bought one of these machines and it has completely changed the way implants can be placed, making surgery safer, more accurate and the outcome highly predictable.

Just to say a little bit more about the X-Guide, implants can be placed within 0.2mm of accuracy and less than 1 degree of deviation from the path, ensuring that I am placing it in the bone I planned to. Throughout surgery I get real time feedback on where I am. And the software allows me to plan where to put the implant and virtually place the final crown, so, like an engineer of a new structure, I can make sure the load of your bite is spread so as not to adversely affect it, whilst still ensuring good aesthetics. Using the laser allows me to do this minimally invasively and treat the area to speed up healing and reduce inflammation.

My passion for learning extends to teaching which I do here and all over the world, mostly on implants, lasers and digital dentistry. I also regularly teach implant dentists for the premier implant company, Nobel Biocare, at their Dental Experience Centre in Zurich. Two of my nurses join me in this, helping to teach the practical aspects of the technology, which is very impressive!

I am proud of what my team and I have created at Wayside, of my dentists, hygienists, nurses, reception and support staff who work alongside me and who too have embraced all the changes and innovations to improve the service we provide.

Outside of dentistry, I live in Harpenden with my wife and spaniel, have three grown up daughters, and two grandsons. I am an avid Arsenal fan, cricket fan and road biker.