Our Team
Dentists
Dr. Mitesh Badiani
Special interest in Dental Implants
GDC reg no: 66934, Newcastle 11/12/91
Mitesh is the Clinical Lead at Devon Dental Centre of Excellence and has over 20 years of dental experience. He has been the clinical lead of this practice and our sister practice, Plymouth Dental Centre of Excellence, for 20 years.
His vision was to create a patient journey which represents a high standard of care and service from the first time the patient walks into the practice right through to the treatment received in surgery and post-treatment communication. This high level of patient care has been created at the Devon Dental Centre of Excellence. Mitesh is proud of the team which has followed his ethos of putting the patient first.
He is also proud that he has assembled a team of highly experienced specialists which enables patients to be treated ‘in-house’ rather than be referred to either Bristol or London. The Centre in Ashburton is, in fact, one of only a few practices in the Southwest that offers many types of dental specialist under one roof.
Devon Dental Centre of Excellence has become increasingly successful at providing a variety of post-graduate courses. Mitesh’s vision is that it continues to develop over the next few years and, in conjunction with Professor St John Crean, becomes an internationally recognised post-graduate learning institution.
Mitesh has also been active in supporting overseas communities. He has set up a charity hospital in Gujarat in North West India that currently treats general patients as well as provides eye surgery and dental treatment. He is also involved in setting up charitable dental outreach programmes in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa.
Mitesh is a Clinical Assistant Professor for the University of Warwick as part of the post graduate implant dentistry programme.
Special Interests
- Dental Implants
- Clinical Assistant Professor for University of Warwick for over 10 years on the MSc Implant programme
- Over 20 years of dental implant experience
- Placed over 7000 implants
- Mentor for both “Ankylos and Bio Horizon” implant systems but has experience with over 8 other implant systems
- Clinical tutor for implant training for smile tube which is an online postgraduate implant training institute.
- Cosmetic Dentistry – Training done at Louisiana State University in New Orleans under the guidance of some of the top US cosmetic dentists
- IV Sedation (for nervous patients)
Memberships
- British Dental Association
- Association of Dental Implantology,
- British Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry (BAAD)
- Founding member of the British Society of Oral Implantology (BSOI)
Awards / Achievements
- Dentex Dental Partner of the Year in 2020.
- Healthcare Professional of the Year, United Kingdom in 2016.
- Awarded ‘Dentist of the Year South 2015’ and ‘National Dentist of the Year 2015’ at The Dental Awards ceremony which was held at a gala dinner at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole NEC, on Friday 17th April 2015.
- Awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the C Group (a charity dedicated to injured Royal Marines) for services provided to medically discharged Royal Marines.
- Led Devon Dental Centre of Excellence and Plymouth Dental Centre of Excellence to win ‘Team of the Year’ in 2013 and 2014.
Dr. Andrew Pickering
Special interest in Restorative
GDC reg no: 66973, Newcastle 11/12/91
Andrew qualified in 1991 at Newcastle University and has a broad background in both NHS and private general practice. Andrew gained his early experience in dental implants over ten years ago and has an interest in single teeth through to full arches particularly loose dentures.
Andrew also enjoys ceramics, high end composites and minimally invasive aesthetic dental techniques. Intra venous sedation available for all treatment and difficult/ surgical extractions.
Dr. Kirsty Lewis
Special interest in General Dentistry
GDC reg no: 264693, Plymouth 5/7/16
Kirsty’s style of dentistry is gentle and empathetic, which helps even nervous people feel comfortable and confident receiving dental care. The main aims of her practice are to help her patients to excellent dental health and create the smile of their dreams!
Kirsty qualified at Peninsula Dental School and is interested in minimally invasive restorative dentistry with excellent aesthetic results. Being able to provide the best and most up to date techniques is a real passion and this is achieved by attending many post graduate programs alongside studying for an MSc in restorative dentistry.
Alongside dental care, Kirsty offers facial aesthetics with high quality, safe injectable products. Before becoming a dentist, Kirsty worked in hospitals, private clinics and in education as a dietitian and has a keen interest in the interplay between health and diet.
She grew up in South Devon and now lives in Plymouth with her husband and two sons.
Dr. Cameran Armaghani
Special interest in Restorative
GDC reg no: 246327, Lithuania 24/9/13
Cameran graduated Dentistry with first class honours in 2013. Since then he has heavily invested in his postgraduate training.
He is currently completing his MSc in Restorative Dentistry at Peninsular University. Involving all restoration aspects such as crowns, veneers, bridges, implants, dentures, gum disease management and full mouth rehabilitation. He has an Implant diploma and certificates in more complex implant surgery including surgical skills, hard tissue grafting, soft tissue management, sinus lifts and full mouth rehabilitation. Cameran enjoys all aspects of dentistry and loves to keep patients smiling using the latest evidence based techniques.
Cameran is from Devon and enjoys fishing, boxing, walking with his dog and spending time with his family.
Dental Specialists
Dr. Claudia Brown
Specialist Periodontist
GDC reg no: 76528, London 20/7/99
Dr Claudia Brown is a qualified dentist and registered Specialist Periodontist with the General Dental council. She worked as a Specialist Clinical teacher at Guy’s Dental school and is currently working in Private practice as a Specialist Periodontist lecturing nationally and internationally. She also examines postgraduate dentists for the Royal College of Surgeons in England. Claudia qualified from UMDS (Guy’s) in 1999. Following that she carried out General Professional training in the Cambridgeshire area. This initially consisted of one year of vocational training in General Practice then another year in private practice with honorary clinical assistantship posts in hospital oral surgery, restorative and orthodontic departments. She then undertook a series of hospital and practice posts around the country that also included teaching the undergraduates and lectures to local dentists.
She attained the Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgeons (MFDS) from the Royal College of surgeons of England in 2002 as well as Master of Science (MSc), Master of Clinical dentistry (MClin Dent) in Periodontology at Kings College London and Membership in Restorative dentistry (MRD) from the Royal College of Surgeons with merit in 2007-2009. This has allowed her to achieve the highest skills in Periodontology, placement of dental implants and keep up to date with the latest techniques. She is a member of the British Society of Periodontology (BSP), British Dental Association (BDA) and International Team for Implantology (ITI). She is also on the General Dental Council list of Specialists in Periodontics.
Claudia loves to travel and has a keen interest in voluntary work especially involving the homeless and the elderly. She has volunteered in Uganda, Crisis at Christmas and participated in race for life. She also enjoys music-concerts, singing and playing the violin and piano.
Claudia is happy to accept referrals from dentists and patients for the treatment of gum disease (gingivitis and periodontitis) halitosis, gum disease treatment around implants, crown lengthening, cosmetic gum graft surgery, treatment of gummy smiles.
Claudia accepts referrals for:
- Patients with a BPE of 3 or 4 in any sextant
- Patients who have had previous periodontal treatment but surgical treatment may be necessary (i.e. flap surgery) or further non-surgical treatment with or without adjunctive antibiotics
- Patients with a high percentage of bleeding on probing in relation to a low plaque index
- Complexity 3 cases-BPE score of 3 and 4 in any sextant and including one or more of the following factors:
- Patients under the age of 35
- Smoking 10+ cigarettes daily
- A concurrent medical factor that is affecting the periodontal tissues e.g. diabetes, use of certain medications?
- Root morphology that adversely affects prognosis
- Rapid periodontal breakdown >2mm attachment loss in any one year
- Mucogingival management (I.e. recession)
- Crown lengthening procedures
- Periodontal problems related to implants-peri-implant mucositis, peri-implantitis
Dr. Mohamed Elneklawy
Specialist Endodontist
GDC reg no: 263724, Cairo 2004
Mohamed qualified in 2004 from Cairo University, Egypt. In 2007 he started his 3 years of speciality training in Restorative dentistry with subspecialty of Endodontics, to gain the highly prestigious Membership in Restorative Dentistry in Endodontics from the Royal college of Surgeons, Edinburgh.
Teaching was always Mohamed’s passion, so in 2011 he founded the Royal Dentists Institute, a leading postgraduate dental training institute in the Middle East. During this time, he continued to run his private practice in Cairo, which launched in 2009, performing advanced endodontic treatments under a surgical operating microscope and receiving regional referrals.
In 2016 Mohamed moved to the U.K. to start working as a clinical teaching fellow in restorative dentistry at the School of Dentistry, University of Leeds. Focusing on teaching endodontics for the undergraduate & postgraduate students and running the endodontic troubleshooting clinics, treating complicated endodontic cases. In 2018 he was added onto the GDC specialist list in Endodontics, after rigorous assessment of his qualifications and experience.
Mohamed has a great deal of experience in providing exemplary endodontic treatments, re-treatments and dealing with any of the endodontic mishaps like perforations, broken files and dismantling posts. He will also be accepting referrals for microsurgeries including apicectomies in the near future.
Every patient will have a thorough assessment before deciding on starting any of the treatments, followed by a full explanation of the pros, cons and prognosis of every procedure.
Dr. Supriti Paraskar
Specialist Prosthodontist
GDC reg no: 259286, London 2017
Dr. Supriti Paraskar is a Mono-specialist (Prosthodontist) registered on the General Dental Council specialist-list register for the United Kingdom. She graduated from King’s College London as a MClinDent (Prosthodontics) in 2017 and has further acquired her MRD / MPros degree from Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. Prior to her full-time post-graduate education at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital, London (2014-2017), she acquired her BDS degree in India, and has since then taken her dental equivalency exams to work and practice in the UK.
Her Prosthodontic speciality lies in the field of removable and fixed prostheses (to replace missing teeth or limit the natural gaps in teeth) – crowns, bridges and implants, complicated dentures, complex occlusion (bite) or full mouth rehabilitation and various aspects of aesthetic dentistry and smile redesigning. Her post-graduate training also includes detailed study of moderate to severe toothwear due to acid erosion or mechanical attrition and abrasion as a result of bruxism or grinding of teeth – resulting in Temporomandibular joint pain.
Her research on “Effects of tooth brushing force with a desensitising dentrifice on dentine tubule patency and surface roughness” was published in the Journal of Dentistry in February 2017. Her core fundamental belief lies in conservative or minimally invasive dentistry. Besides the three years NHS hospital-based training, she has been a part of our private dental team since 2018 and has received much admiration from her patients for her careful treatment planning, detailed communication and keen craftsmanship. She was felicitated as the first clinician to receive a “certificate of Compassionate practice” in recognition of ‘going the extra mile for our patients by Guys’ and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London in 2017. Dr. Paraskar works in close association with our lead implant surgeon Dr. Badiani for the implant restorative work and travels to two of our sister-practices in Plymouth and Bovey Tracey. She is passionate about her role as an oral health care provider and loves to put a smile on her patient’s faces on a daily basis.
Hobbies: painting, trying to play musical instruments, dramatics and dancing, playing various sports like table tennis, badminton, lawn tennis, basketball, squash, cricket, and indulging in trying various cuisines as a keen foodie (with unpredictable culinary skills!)
Oral Surgeons
Dr. Sara Hutchinson
Oral Surgery Specialist
GDC reg no: 69494, Birmingham 1993
Sara qualified in 1993 from Birmingham Dental School. She spent her early years gaining valuable surgical experience within Oral and Maxillofacial Units in Hospitals around England (John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, Eastman Dental Institute, London and Great Ormond St Hospital).
She obtained her fellowship in Dental surgery in 1998 from the Royal College of Surgeons of England and has been a registered specialist in Oral Surgery since 1999.
Sara split her work between Hospitals and Practice until she moved and settled with her family in Devon in 2005. Since May 2006 she has been providing a Specialist NHS Oral Surgery Service at Devon Dental Centre of Excellence in Ashburton and Plymouth Dental Centre of Excellence.
Hygienists & Therapists
Lindsey Wright
Senior Dental Therapist & Hygienist
GDC reg no: 170999, Cardiff 2008
Lindsey is our Senior Dental Hygienist and Therapist who qualified in 2008 from Cardiff University and has worked at the practice since 2009.
She promotes a relaxed, stress-free, friendly environment whilst upholding excellent dental care catered for each individual need. Lindsey predominantly treats patients with severe gum disease and gets them to a point of stability and maintenance, but also treats both adults and children for routine hygiene appointments for general cleaning and oral hygiene instructions to help you keep your teeth healthy at home.
Lindsey is also a trained therapist, which means that she is able to undertake simple fillings on both adults and children. She works 2 days a week at Devon Dental Centre of Excellence and 2 days a week at our sister practice in Plymouth, Plymouth Dental Centre of Excellence.
Outside of work, Lindsey is always on the go with her young family and dogs, enjoys sewing, baking and music with her children. She is always up for new challenges and new experiences which has included going on a Smilestar trip to South Africa in 2019 to provide free dental care to those in need.
Nicole Gay
Dental Hygiene Therapist
GDC reg no: 252646, Plymouth 2022
Nisreen Mesallam
Dental Hygiene Therapist
GDC reg no: 310217
Nisreen qualified as a dentist in 2005 from MUST university, Egypt. She then registered as Therapist/Hygienist in the UK and started working at Devon Dental Centre of Excellence. With years of dental experience, Nisreen fosters a tranquil and welcoming atmosphere, prioritising top-notch dental care tailored to individual requirements. Her primary focus involves addressing gum disease, guiding patients toward stability and ongoing maintenance, offering routine hygiene appointments for general cleaning and imparting valuable oral hygiene guidance to support the maintenance of healthy teeth.
Dental Nurses
Jessica Blee
Head Dental Nurse
GDC reg no: 299519
Jessica is our Head Nurse at the practice. She has spent over 3 years working for Devon Dental, qualifying in 2021 with a level 3 diploma and overall Distinction in dental nursing. Jess has a clear passion for dentistry, working between two practices as also works at our sister practice in Plymouth.
Jessica particularly enjoys restorative cases working closely with Dr A. Pickering, assistanting in the placement of Implants, and Oral surgery / Extractions, working with the Specialist oral surgeon Sara Hutchinson.
Jessica ensures the smooth running of all three busy surgeries, and as Head Nurse she has high clinical standards & superb organisation. Outside of work, Jess lives in Plymouth with her partner, enjoys spending time with family & going to the gym.
Jess also loves adventures to the beach, particularly in Cornwall, and has a real passion for travel. Backpacking solo in Thailand & Norway was a favourite experience!
Jess is continually learning & striving to update her skills and is aiming to begin a sedation course in 2023.
Qualifications:
- Level 3 Diploma certificate in Dental Nursing
- BDA certification in Dental radiography
Jo Holt
Dental Nurse/Receptionist
GDC reg no: 181440
Jo joined our team in the summer of 2009 after moving to the Westcountry. Jo is radiography trained and has over 10 years experience in dental nursing, she has a lovely manner with patients.
Reception Team
Karla Dowling
Receptionist
Karla is fairly new to the receptionist role, she has had varied career within customer service and spent almost ten years working with children. Karla has always been passionate about working with people and making a difference.
Karla is mum to her Jack Russel, Rosie, and enjoys long walks at the beach together and in the countryside. She also enjoys cycling and likes to go on long rides in the summer months. Karla enjoys travelling, especially in hot climates. As a food lover, she loves to explore new places, try new cuisine and experiment in the kitchen cooking new recipes when she can.
Olivia Norton
Receptionist
Olivia joined the team in November 2021, her previous occupations have been as an NHS Call Advisor & Letting Agent. Prior to this, Olivia studied to gain her NVQ level 3 Health & Social Care & Extended Diploma. As a Dental Receptionist, she loves to meet new patients to welcome to the practice and enjoys assisting our regular patients to try to ensure that everyone leaves the practice with a good experience.
Outside of work Olivia likes to travel, her favourite place she’s visited was New Zealand, where she spent a couple of months. Olivia also keep busy with her animals, she has horses, a dog, two birds & a fish!
Farida Smith
Receptionist
Farida Smith, also known as (Maeva) was born in Dar Es Salaam Tanzania. She came to live in the UK in 2001, eventually becoming a UK citizen. Farida has two children, a 24-year-old daughter, a 22-year-old son, and a new family member Ayla, a 2-year-old cavapoochon.
Before in Africa Farida had deep-rooted passion for making a difference, Farida took the opportunity to do voluntary work as the Fundraising Director for a charitable foundation in Accra. She enlisted the support as patron of the charity, the former World Cup-winning footballer, Marcel Desailly. The charity aimed to rescue children from the streets and bring them back to the classroom. Through her dedicated efforts, she successfully changed the lives of over 100 children from begging on the streets to the classroom.
Farida’s background in customer service overseas and in the UK has equipped her with excellent communication skills, a strong understanding of customer needs, and the ability to provide exceptional service. Her previous work in challenging healthcare facilities, demonstrates her compassion and empathy, qualities that are essential in healthcare facilities where patients and visitors require a welcoming and supportive environment.
Farida’s work history and her passion for making a difference and welcoming demeanour perfectly aligns with the receptionist’s responsibility to create a positive and helpful experience for anyone who walks through the door.
Management
Sophie Burrows
Practice Manager
Sophie started her career in dentistry in 2009 as a Dental Receptionist, she joined Plymouth Dental Centre of Excellence in May 2013 and progressed to Head Receptionist in June 2019. Sophie enjoyed recruiting and training new staff members during this time and also taking the role of converting new patient leads.
Sophie trains her staff to deliver excellent patient care to ensure that each patient experience offers an exceptional patient journey. In 2020 she won the Chrysalis finance Patient Care Award. Following maternity leave with her second child Darcie, Sophie returned to become Practice Manager of Devon Dental Centre of Excellence & Harwood Dental Practice. Sophie takes pride in her work and is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure patient needs are met and all patients leave our practice with a smile. Sophie loves her job as it means working alongside various specialists and the opportunity to interact with wonderful people on a daily basis.
Away from the practice, Sophie enjoys spending time with her family as well as competing her two horses.