Some clinicians treat orthodontics as a technical fix. Mr Ben Buffham, the Registered Specialist Orthodontist behind Park Lane Orthodontics in Tilehurst, Reading, treats it more like music. As of June 2026, he leads a practice that dentists across Berkshire trust with their hardest cases, and he happens to be a working musician too.
Stay with me, because the connection isn’t just a nice line for a website.
What “Registered Specialist” actually means
The word “specialist” gets thrown around loosely in dentistry, so it’s worth being exact. Any qualified dentist in the UK can offer braces or aligners. Only a clinician who has completed years of further training and earned a place on the General Dental Council’s specialist list may call themselves a Registered Specialist in Orthodontics.
Mr Buffham holds that registration, GDC number 69390. He earned his BDS with Honours at Sheffield in 1993, then an MSc in Orthodontics in 2002 and his MOrth at the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh in 2003. It isn’t a marketing badge. It’s a legally protected title that tells you the person planning your case trained specifically, and at length, to do exactly that.
Why a musician makes a careful orthodontist
Here’s the thing about playing music well. It rewards patience, rhythm, and a fine ear for when something is very slightly off. A note that’s a fraction flat ruins the whole phrase, and only a trained ear catches it early.
Orthodontics is the same. Teeth move in small, deliberate stages over months. Read the movement wrong and the bite drifts in a way you’ll feel years later. Mr Buffham approaches each case the way he’d approach a piece of music: looking at how every part relates to the whole, correcting the small things before they become big ones. It’s a quieter kind of skill, and it tends to show up most in the cases that don’t go to plan for other people.
The Diamond Apex difference
Mr Buffham is a Diamond Apex Invisalign provider. In plain terms, that places him in the top 1% of Invisalign providers in Europe.
That ranking isn’t bought. It reflects both the volume of cases a clinician has treated and the quality of the outcomes. When you’ve planned and finished a very large number of aligner cases, you’ve seen the awkward ones, the relapses, the bites that don’t behave, and you’ve learned how to plan around them from the start. For you, it means the person designing your treatment has a depth of real experience that a newer provider simply can’t match yet.
A quick comparison of what the tiers tend to signal:
| Invisalign tier | What it usually reflects |
|---|---|
| Standard provider | Lower case volume, often newer to aligners. |
| Platinum / Diamond | High volume with strong clinical experience. |
| Diamond Apex | Top 1% of Invisalign providers in Europe, reflecting exceptionally high case volume and consistently successful outcomes. |
The facial aesthetics lens
Most people come in thinking about straight front teeth. Mr Buffham thinks about the whole face.
He plans treatment through what the practice calls a long-term facial aesthetics lens, which means considering how the position of your teeth affects the look of your entire face over time, not just your smile in a mirror today. Tooth position influences lip support, the balance of your profile, and how your face ages. It’s a more involved way to plan, and it’s one of the things that separates a Registered Specialist from a general dentist who offers orthodontics as one service among many.
A practice with two jobs
Park Lane has a dual identity, and it’s an unusual one.
On one hand, it’s a warm local family practice in Tilehurst, treating children, teenagers, and adults from Reading and the surrounding area. On the other, it’s a Specialist Referral Centre that accepts complex cases referred by other dentists from across the UK. Dr Paula Buffham, who holds a PhD and has run a focused practice in orthodontics since 2005, brings the academic depth that underpins this side of the work. Between them, the husband-and-wife team built one of the most credentialled orthodontic practices in Berkshire.
What treatment costs
Orthodontic fees in the UK vary widely with the complexity of the case, from around £2,000 for a straightforward course of aligners to £6,000 or more for complex, specialist-led treatment. Cases that need a specialist’s planning naturally sit towards the upper end, because they involve more time and more careful design. Your exact fee is confirmed after a consultation, where Mr Buffham examines your teeth and explains the realistic options. You can find more articles on treatment over on the Park Lane Orthodontics blog.
What a first consultation with Mr Buffham is like
What actually happens when you walk in for that first appointment? Knowing the shape of it tends to take the nerves out, so here’s the honest version.
It starts with listening. Before any examination, Mr Buffham wants to understand what brought you in. Is it one tooth that has always bothered you, a bite that feels wrong when you chew, or a smile you’ve quietly disliked in photographs for years? What you want from treatment shapes everything that follows, and a good orthodontist asks before he advises.
Then comes the examination itself. He looks at your teeth, yes, but also at how they meet, how your jaw moves, and how everything sits within your face as a whole. This is where that facial aesthetics view comes in. He isn’t only checking which teeth are crooked; he’s reading how their position affects your lips, your profile, and the way your face will age. It’s the difference between treating a symptom and understanding the picture.
You’ll usually have scans or images taken so the planning can be precise. From there, Mr Buffham explains what he’s found in plain language, not jargon. He’ll tell you what’s realistic, what the options are, and where a particular approach has limits. If aligners suit your case, he’ll say so. If fixed braces would give a better result, he’ll say that too, even when it isn’t the answer you were hoping for.
What you won’t get is a hard sell. The point of the visit is clarity, so you leave knowing what your teeth actually need and what treatment would involve, then decide in your own time. Many people find the consultation answers questions they’d carried around for years. Whether you book treatment that day or go away and think, you’ll understand your own mouth far better than when you walked in, and that on its own is worth the visit.
FAQ
What is a Registered Specialist Orthodontist?
It’s a dentist who has completed several years of additional, formal orthodontic training and is entered on the General Dental Council’s specialist list. Only clinicians on that list may use the title. Mr Ben Buffham at Park Lane Orthodontics in Reading holds this registration under GDC number 69390, which means his orthodontic training goes well beyond that of a general dentist who offers braces.
What does Diamond Apex Invisalign mean?
Diamond Apex is the highest Invisalign provider tier, reflecting the top 1% of providers in Europe by case volume and outcome quality. It isn’t a label a clinic can simply pay for. Mr Buffham holds it, which tells you he has planned and completed a very large number of aligner cases, including difficult ones that benefit from that depth of experience.
Can a specialist treat cases other dentists can’t?
Often, yes. A Registered Specialist has the training to plan difficult cases, including impacted teeth, awkward bites, and treatments that have relapsed. Park Lane functions as a Specialist Referral Centre, which means other dentists send cases here that fall outside their everyday work. A consultation will tell you honestly which level of care your teeth actually need.
Is orthodontic treatment only for children?
No. Many of Park Lane’s patients are adults, some fixing a long-standing concern and others correcting teeth that drifted after braces in their youth. Clear aligners such as Invisalign make adult treatment far more discreet than it used to be. An assessment with Mr Buffham will explain the options suited to your age and your case.
Why does the practice talk about facial aesthetics?
Because tooth position affects more than your smile. It influences lip support, your profile, and how your face looks as it ages. Mr Buffham plans treatment with that long-term view in mind, rather than focusing only on the front teeth. It’s a more thorough way to approach orthodontics and one reason the practice draws referrals from across the region.
What to do next
If you’d like your teeth assessed by a Registered Specialist Orthodontist, or you’re curious whether Invisalign suits you, book a consultation at Park Lane Orthodontics in Tilehurst, Reading. Mr Ben Buffham will examine your teeth, explain your realistic options, and set out a clear plan before you commit to anything.
Call 01189411628, or learn more about the practice on the Park Lane Orthodontics homepage.