“Premium” is a word that gets used a lot in dentistry, often without much definition. So when Dr Ahmed Al-Baiyaa was asked what actually sets Atrium Dental in Camberley apart from the average high-street practice, he answered in concrete terms — not adjectives. From the first phone call to the materials used in the chair, here is what a premium patient journey looks like in his own words.

It starts with the phone call

The patient experience does not begin in the dentist’s chair. It begins the moment someone picks up the phone or sends an enquiry.

“I think it all starts with the patient journey. The minute they make that first phone call, we have a very welcoming reception team. The admin team is also very good at following up with patient inquiries, so if the patient is still hesitant about booking in, or has had a treatment plan and they’re not sure what to do with it, they get followed up regularly, and without sounding too pushy.” — Ahmed Al-Baiyaa

The detail Ahmed is most proud of is the cadence: roughly once every two weeks. Not a hard sell. A check-in. A cooling-off period that respects the patient’s right to think about it, shop around, ask other clinics for comparison, and come back when they are ready.

The waiting area: warm, informative, calm

When patients arrive in person, the reception team greets them and the waiting area is set up to inform rather than rush. There is a screen running short biographies of each dentist — their qualifications, their interests, the treatments they focus on. Patients can see who they are about to meet, and why.

“The rooms are very bright and spacious, and feel quite welcoming,” Ahmed adds. None of that is decorative. A calmer environment lowers the heart rate of a nervous patient before the appointment has even started.

Inside the surgery: digital, not putty

Once in the chair, the gap between Atrium and a typical practice becomes much more visible. Every room is equipped with digital x-rays, and impressions are taken with a digital scanner rather than the traditional putty.

For patients with a strong gag reflex, this is genuinely transformative. The old putty impressions — a tray of cold paste held in the mouth for several minutes — are one of the most commonly disliked parts of older dentistry. The scanner replaces them entirely.

“With the scanners, everything is digital, it’s mess-free, it’s a lot less messy, and it tends to be received a lot better with patients. So that’s another advancement which has quite revolutionised how we do lab work and dentistry that is required to be externally with an external lab technician.” — Ahmed Al-Baiyaa

Beyond patient comfort, the scans are also far more accurate than physical impressions — which means crowns, bridges and aligners fit better the first time.

Same-day crowns with CEREC

One piece of equipment in particular changes how a crown appointment looks. Atrium uses a CEREC machine, which mills the final crown on-site, usually while the patient waits.

“Not a lot of practices have the luxury of doing crowns this way,” Ahmed explains. “Sometimes you would have to prepare the tooth for a crown, and then leave the patient with a temporary and wait for the technician for about 2 weeks until this is fitted. Whereas in Atrium Dental, we have the luxury of having a CEREC machine that allows for that same-day crown experience.”

The practical impact is real. One appointment instead of two. No temporary crown to manage. No two-week wait wondering if the temporary is going to come off at the wrong moment.

Rubber dam: a small detail with a long shadow

One of the less glamorous, but most clinically important, things Atrium does as standard is to use a rubber dam during restorative work. It is a thin sheet that isolates the tooth being worked on.

It does two important jobs. First, it protects the airway — anything that might come loose during a procedure cannot fall to the back of the throat. Second, it keeps the working field completely dry, which is critical for how well modern adhesives and composites actually bond.

“It’s all done under the use of rubber dam, which is the isolation sheet in order to ensure the patient’s airway is protected at all times, and also to ensure the field of work is dry throughout, so the materials and glue can stick better and ensure longevity,” Ahmed says.

Plenty of high-street practices skip the rubber dam to save a few minutes. The cost of skipping it shows up years later, when the filling or crown fails earlier than it should have.

The dentists themselves: cherry-picked

The other half of the equation is the team in the chair. Ahmed is candid about this — Atrium’s dentists are not assembled at random.

“All the other dentists here have been cherry-picked. I have qualified with multiple awards, and I have been picked on multiple occasions as the top performer in that particular cohort, including the implant training that I did. I won Best Overall Student in that batch for the three-year period that I spent at UCL.” — Ahmed Al-Baiyaa

For Ahmed personally, that includes an MSc in Implant Dentistry from the Eastman Dental Institute, UCL (where he was awarded Best Overall Student), and consistent distinctions through his five years at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he was also awarded Best Overall Student. He spent the early years of his career in hospital house-officer roles, picking up oral surgery and IV sedation skills on complex multidisciplinary cases before moving into general and implant practice.

That depth of training is then mirrored by the rest of the team — each dentist chosen for the qualifications, experience and areas of interest they bring.

The non-clinical team matters more than people realise

What Ahmed comes back to, repeatedly, is that excellent dentistry without an excellent team around it does not feel premium to the patient. Reception, admin, hygienists, nurses — every touchpoint is part of the experience.

“Having the qualification along with the facility, along with the non-clinical team being so experienced at ensuring the patients are treated and their needs are met at all times throughout their journey, I think sets this practice apart and makes it the place of choice,” he says.

What it adds up to for patients in Camberley and Surrey

None of this is about gold-plated waiting rooms or jargon-as-drama. It is the accumulation of small, deliberate decisions: digital scanners instead of putty, CEREC instead of a two-week wait, rubber dam instead of a shortcut, gentle follow-up instead of a hard sell, and clinicians who have been chosen as much for who they are as what they can do.

For patients in Camberley, Surrey Heath and the wider Surrey area, what that translates to in practice is a calmer first appointment, a clearer treatment plan, fewer return visits than necessary, and work that is built to last.

Come and see for yourself

The most honest test of any of this is to visit. You can read more about the practice, or book a new patient appointment through the contact page.

MEET

Ahmed Al-Baiyaa

Dentist · BDS Hons Lond 2016 · GDC 265488

Dr Ahmed Al-Baiyaa qualified from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2016 with Honours, earning distinctions in every undergraduate year, ten prestigious academic awards and a nomination for the University of London Gold Medal. He completed his Foundation Training in the North Central London scheme attached to the Eastman Dental Institute, where he was awarded the Health Education England Best Clinical Case prize. In 2017 he passed the Royal College of Surgeons' Membership exams in Edinburgh.

Ahmed has advanced his communication skills working with dental-phobic children and adults in the Special Care Dentistry Department at King's College Hospital, and is a certified sedation dentist who routinely treats highly anxious patients under sedation. He is particularly drawn to oral surgery, with experience across King's College, St George's and Ashford and St Peter's hospitals, and is responsible for complex surgical extractions — including wisdom teeth — at the practice.

In 2025 he completed his three-year MSc in Implant Dentistry at the Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, where he was named Best Overall Student. He prides himself on being compassionate, empathetic and clear in the way he explains treatment — qualities patients consistently mention in their feedback.