HR, leadership and people management support for dental practices
Is managing your team taking as much out of you as dentistry?
I help dental practice owners and practice managers lead their teams with confidence: setting clear expectations, developing performance, and handling the difficult moments well when they come.
The Dental Practice People Health Check: 30 questions, about 5 minutes, results straight away. No sales call.
Prefer to talk? Book a 45-minute call with Tessa
How to start: free Health Check Practice People Programme ongoing support
Run an independent small business? I can support you too.of dental nurses are uncertain whether they will remain in the professionDental Nurse UK Retention Survey 2023 · BADN / Dr D Reed
areas of practice stability, reviewed to show where the pressure in your team really sits
Running a dental practice means leading people too. And that can bring conversations and situations you were never trained for.
Dentistry trains you for patients. Leading a team comes with the practice.
Most practice owners are capable and fair-minded. But nobody trained you to lead a team, set standards, run a one-to-one or have a conversation you would rather avoid.
That is where I come in. I work with principals and practice managers to build the skills and confidence to lead well.
Leading well
Building your confidence, and your practice manager's, to set expectations, give feedback, run one-to-ones and lead the team day to day.
A team that performs
Clear standards, applied consistently, and a team that knows what good looks like and is supported to develop.
When it gets difficult
Specialist HR and employee relations support with conduct, absence, grievances and formal processes, so situations are handled properly and do not escalate.
Your patients feel how your team is led
Patients rarely see the people side of your practice, but they feel it. In the welcome at reception, in how smoothly a nurse supports a treatment, and in whether they see familiar faces from one visit to the next.
Familiar faces
When good people stay, patients see the same team and build trust over time.
A calmer atmosphere
Tension in a small team is hard to hide. A well-led team is calmer, and patients notice.
Consistent care
Clear standards mean every patient gets the same experience, whoever is on shift.
Better leadership is good for your team. It is also good for your patients, and for your practice.
Six areas that show how well your practice is led, and where to focus first
Every engagement starts here. It shows what is working, where the team could be stronger, and what needs attention first.
HR Infrastructure
Whether the right contracts, policies and records are in place before situations become formal
Leadership Confidence
How confident you feel making people decisions under pressure
Team Climate
Whether tension is being avoided, misread, or quietly spreading
Conflict and ER Exposure
How friction is being handled, and how exposed you are if a situation turns formal
Staffing Stability
Whether the current structure is sustainable or creating strain
Performance and Accountability
Whether standards are clear, applied consistently, and developed over time
When these six areas are strong, the practice runs well, the team performs, and you spend less time firefighting.
See where your practice stands
The Dental Practice People Health Check takes about five minutes and shows you where your practice is steady, and where it needs attention.
- 30 questions across the six areas of practice stability
- Personalised results straight away
- Free to complete. No obligation, no sales call required
Start with clarity. Stay for confidence.
Find what's really happening
The Practice People Programme
- A 75-minute diagnostic across the six areas of practice stability
- A clear written report: what was found and where to begin
- Five 90-minute sessions with you, your practice manager, or both
- A practice week in week 5, to put the changes into action with the team
- Support between sessions when something comes up, with a reply within one working day
- You finish knowing where you stand and what to prioritise
Lead with confidence
Ongoing Practice People Support
- Coaching for you and your practice manager to lead the team with confidence
- Support with one-to-ones, appraisals, feedback and performance
- Regular sessions that keep people matters on track
- Specialist guidance whenever something difficult arises
- Monthly, with no long contract. Stop with 30 days’ notice
Pricing is discussed on your Practice Discovery Call. The most useful comparison is rarely the cost of the programme. It is the cost of one avoidable resignation, or months of team instability.
What feels different after we work together
You know what good looks like, and so does your team.
You deal with things earlier, before they have time to build.
Your practice manager leads with confidence, and handles more without needing you.
Team members know where they stand, because expectations are clear and consistent.
Difficult conversations happen, instead of sitting unresolved for months.
You are not on your own when something genuinely difficult happens.
Practical guidance for dental practice owners
Thinking on leadership, team performance and the people side of practice, written for owners and practice managers.
From Dentist to Leader: The People Management Skills Nobody Teaches Practice Owners
Clinical training prepares you for patients, not for leading a team. The five people skills that make the biggest difference, and how to start building them.
Read articleThe Moment That Changes a Dental Practice Team (Even When Nobody Says So)
When a team member is put in an impossible position and nobody addresses it afterwards, the cost to the practice is real, even if it is invisible.
Read articleWhy Dental Staff Leave: What the Research Actually Shows
Pay is not in the top three reasons dental nurses leave the profession. UK research reveals what is actually driving turnover, and what practice owners can do about it.
Read articleCQC Changes in 2026: What Dental Practice Owners Need to Understand About the People Layer
The CQC's 2026 changes raise the bar for Well-led and Safe. Here is what that means for people management in your practice.
Read articleWhy Well-led Is the Area Dental Practices Most Often Fail
In the CQC's review of its dental inspections, 82% of breaches were found under Well-led. Here is what that means for your practice.
Read articleDifficult Conversations in Dental Practices: Why Avoidance Costs More Than the Conversation
Most practice owners know the conversation needs to happen. The difficulty is knowing how to approach it, and what not having it really costs.
Read articleDental Practice People Health Check
A free five-minute check across the six areas of practice stability, showing where to focus first.
Get my free practice scoreCommon questions
I already use an HR service such as Peninsula, Citation or the BDA. Is this different?
Yes, and the two work well together. Services like these give you expert HR and employment law advice, policies and documents, and support if a case goes further. My work is different: I work with you and your practice manager directly, over several weeks, on how you lead the team day to day, so more situations are handled well before you need to pick up the phone.
You have not worked in dentistry. Does that matter?
The challenges I help with are leadership and people challenges: setting standards, managing performance, handling absence, grievances and difficult conversations. I have handled these for 27 years, and trained managers to handle them well. My work is built around the realities of dental practices, including the workforce research and the CQC’s expectations under Well-led.
How do sessions work?
Programme sessions are usually 90 minutes, by video, so they fit around your list wherever you are. If you would prefer to meet in person at the practice, that can be arranged. Between sessions you can email me about anything that comes up.
Am I tied into a contract?
No. The programme is a one-off six weeks. If you continue with ongoing support, it is monthly and can be ended with 30 days’ notice.
Who do you work with?
Principals, practice owners and practice managers. The focus is on building your confidence and skill in leading the team, so the whole practice benefits.
Is this only for serious or formal situations?
No. In many cases the best time to get support is before a situation becomes formal. Early guidance is usually what protects the practice best.
Do you only help when something has gone wrong?
No. A lot of the work is developmental: helping you and your managers set clear expectations, give feedback well, and get the best from the team.
What if I am not sure how serious the issue is yet?
That is exactly what the first conversation is for. You do not need to arrive with the answer already worked out.
Will this feel like generic HR advice?
No. The support is built around real situations in dental practices and focused on practical next steps, not theory or broad policy language.
Tessa Creary-Bennett
Assoc CIPD · Founder, Practice People Advisory
- 27 years in senior leadership at Santander UK
- Hands-on experience of performance, absence, grievance and disciplinary matters
- Trained and developed managers to lead their teams well
- CIPD qualified (Assoc CIPD)
I spent 27 years leading teams and developing managers, including the hard parts: performance conversations, absence, grievances and disciplinaries.
Most people issues do not start big. They start with a conversation that does not happen, or an expectation nobody made clear.
Many principals and practice managers have never been shown how to lead a team. I work with both, so leading people becomes something you feel confident doing, not something you put off.
Not sure where to start?
Take the free Health Check. In about five minutes you will see where your practice is steady, and where to focus first.
Not a dental practice?
Dental practices are my specialism, but the fundamentals of leading people well go far beyond dentistry. If you run an independent business and lead a team, I'd be glad to talk it through.
A confidential first conversation. No pressure.
You do not need to prepare anything formal. If you are unsure whether your situation is serious enough, that is still a good reason to get in touch.
Want to ask something first? Send me a message and I will reply within one working day.
Thank you.
Tessa will be in touch within one working day to arrange a time to speak. Your enquiry is strictly confidential.