About Us

About Us

Our History

Did you know there has been a dental practice here at 65 Duckworth Lane since the 1880's?

Our practice has a fine heritage - our records go back over 100 years!

For example in January 1911, Mr. W.E. Baxter practised here - an extraction cost sixpence, and a filling was 2s 6d. At that time dentists were not registered as the Dentists Act did not become law until 1921.

In 1948, Mr. Leslie Jackman became the first NHS Dentist to practise here under the newly established National Health Service. Mr. Jackman is still remembered by our long standing patients many of whom attended his surgery which was situated downstairs in the front room.

Meg Daniels, our now retired practice manager in 2023, began work for Mr. Jackman in 1978 as a trainee dental nurse. Mr. Jackman was not only supported by Meg but by Gerald Bedford, who was the dental technician, constructing dentures in the basement. Meg has changed her role to Business Development Manager.

In 1982, Mr. Jackman retired and sold the practice to Mr. Martin Durgan, who refurbished the building, and introduced modern dentistry such as crowns and bridges. Mr. Durgan employed Ali Azfar, straight from dental school, to work for him at Duckworth Lane.

Ali Azfar and Nick Shore have been firm friends since their early days at Leeds Dental School in 1985. They made a pact to work together as professional colleagues because they each felt the other was a good dentist!

In 1991, Ali Azfar and Nick Shore purchased the entire practice from Mr. Durgan and A&S Dental Surgeons was born.

Like our predecessors, our values lie in providing high quality dental care for the long term - we wanted our practice to be a success across our entire practising lifetimes. Decades later, we feel we are well on track with our objective.