A chat with Dr. Fazeela Khan-Osborne

A chat with Fazeela Khan-Osborne

Interview conducted by Dr. Marjan Gilani

You decided to build the new Harley Street dental center during the national lockdown in the UK? What were your hopes? Dr. Khan-Osborne: My lease was about to expire in May 2020. This required me to move and rebuild my existing practice. I knew this was going to be my last ever practice, so I wanted to take the lessons learned over 25-years and build the best clinic I could imagine: a happy and safe environment for my patients and team, and incorporating new features such as filtered clean air, a CBCT scanner and an in-house dental laboratory.

Building a practice with top notch facilities during the lockdown sounds impossible. How did you make it happen? Yes, the plan was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. No businesses were open. No building work was allowed. We met with four of my clients from a former project, galvanized their expertise and formed a new team to design, plan and build the center. The contractors were my patients, and the architect was my daughter. What was the biggest challenge? I was stressed over the safety of all the workers, their social distancing, constant delays with materials and making sure my patients had service at the same time. But the result was amazing for all of us. We were like a family and helped each other make this dream come true.

When were you able to start the courses and activities again? We were able to return to face-to-face activities, with social distancing, in October 2020. I was looking forward to it and to a brighter future. Today we need training more than ever.

When you look back, what was your proudest achievement? I am immensely proud of the team. We all pulled together to make sure we were safe and did not compromise on the standard or quality of our work. The future is indeed looking bright.

AFTER BEFORE

Dr. Fazeela Khan-Osborne is an implant and restorative surgeon, and founding clinician of Harley Street practice in London. She teaches implant dentistry at her one-to-one dental implant course, one of the longest-running and well-known private courses in the UK.