About
Dr Elaine Halley
BDS, MSc (Distinction), MFGDP(UK)
Principal, Cherrybank Dental Spa · GDC No. 67791
Thirty years, and still in the chair on Monday
I graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1992 and took membership of the Royal College of General Dental Practitioners three years later. In 1995 I opened Cherrybank Dental Spa in Perth, where I still practise. A second practice followed in Edinburgh in 2010, which I've since sold into the Pain Free Dentistry Group — I'm now their Clinical Director, mentoring associates across Scotland, and a good number of them come to Perth to see how we work.
My Master's is in Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry, taken with distinction at the University of Manchester. The work has been increasingly comprehensive since — full rehabilitations, worn dentitions, the cases that need planning before they need hands.
The teaching started almost by accident. I was asked to lecture, then asked again, and at some point realised I'd built a system without ever writing it down. So I wrote it down. That became Smile Analysis, published by EDRA in February 2022 — a pathway from single-tooth treatment to comprehensive diagnosis and planning.
How I think about it
Most cases that don't go to plan aren't skill problems
They're diagnosis problems. The mouth is a three-dimensional puzzle — change one part of it and that has a knock-on effect with everything else. Nearly everything I teach comes back to that one observation, and to making complete diagnosis achievable in a real clinical day rather than in theory.
Teaching & faculty
Where I teach
| Digital Smile Design | Master, accredited by Christian Coachman. Official DSD instructor. |
| Tipton Training | Teaches Digital Smile Design on the Level 7 postgraduate certificate — Watford, Manchester and Dubai |
| Align Technology | Global Faculty. Teaches the Comprehensive Invisalign certification courses across the UK |
| Pathfinder Study Club | Founder and host — Scotland's Seattle Study Club affiliate, now in its seventh year |
| Dental Education Studios | Instructor, The Complete Smile Analysis System |
| Opinion Leader | DMG, Ivoclar Vivadent, Optident and Align Technology |
| Lecturing | Throughout the UK, Europe and the United States |
| Digital Dental Society UK | Board member |
The formal bit
Qualifications & appointments
Education & registration
| BDS, University of Edinburgh — 1992 |
| Membership, Royal College of General Dental Practitioners — 1995 |
| MSc Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry, with distinction, University of Manchester |
| GDC No. 67791 |
Writing
| Smile Analysis — EDRA Publishing, February 2022 |
| Articles on clinical dentistry, smile design, treatment planning, digital dentistry and the business of dentistry, across the trade press |
Memberships & appointments
| Past President and Accredited Member, British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry |
| Fellow, International College of Dentists |
| Fellow, College of General Dentistry |
| Member, Leading Ladies in Dentistry |
| Invisalign Diamond Apex Provider — Europe's top 1% |
| Clinical Director, Pain Free Dental Group |
| Principal and founder, Cherrybank Dental Spa — Perth, since 1995 |
Recognition
| 2026 | Fellowship of the College of General Dentistry College of General Dentistry · Presented at Cutlers' Hall, London. Fellowship recognises sustained clinical standards and contribution to the profession. About Fellowship ↗ |
| 2023 | P-I Brånemark Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dentistry Named for Prof. Per-Ingvar Brånemark and awarded to clinicians who have advanced dentistry for wider public benefit. Profiled at length by The New Dentist. The New Dentist profile ↗ |
| 2018 | Outstanding Contribution to Dentistry Dentistry Scotland Awards, FMC Professional · Awarded in Perth for contribution to dentistry in Scotland. |
One thing worth being clear about
I'm not a specialist. Cherrybank isn't a specialist referral centre and I've never claimed otherwise. What I have is thirty years of complex restorative cases and a system for planning them that I've tested on a great many patients and taught to a great many dentists.
If you send me a case, you're getting experience and a second opinion — not a specialist referral. I'd rather say that plainly than let anyone assume otherwise.
Learn with me
Pathfinder Study Club
Nine months, September to June, in a room with twenty other dentists.