Vitra Clinic in Lagoa is not just another dental clinic – now it also offers general medicine and speech therapy.
Vitra Clinic in Lagoa has expanded its services, allowing clients to also schedule general and family medicine, non-invasive aesthetics, and even speech therapy appointments, all in the same space.
This clinic’s founders, Ana Pragosa and Sérgio Tavares de Sousa, had the idea originally when designing the facilities. Therefore, the dentist’s office has a room available solely for these services, which will be shared by general practitioner Ângelo Afonso and speech therapist Tânia Francisco, both of whom have experience working in the Algarve.
While Ângelo Afonso practices medicine in several locations, including the Portimão Health Centre and several clinics, where he specialises in child and teenage health, mental and maternal health, as well as chronic and acute disease care, Tânia Francisco has extensive knowledge in cases involving speech sound disorders, articulation, reading and writing difficulties, dyslexia, language development delays, among other pathologies.
“The consultations are for all ages and can be scheduled on any day,” Ana Pragosa told us, emphasising the importance of offering several services. “We consider this addition an asset, making everything easier, closer, and immediate for the patients.”
Depending on the urgency, the appointments will be scheduled according to the availability of the doctor and the patient. Although both health professionals will work set days at the clinic, there is also flexibility to schedule appointments on mutually agreed dates.
According to the founder of Vitra Clinic, this change will enhance the clinic’s “effective and personalised care” and complement what it already offers.
Deciding to offer general medicine appointments was an easy decision, the founders say. Vitra Clinic now makes it possible to have a routine check-up without having to wait for months for an appointment and closely monitor the growth of patients’ children in a region where “there is a shortage of doctors”.
This new service is also expected to benefit foreign patients, allowing for simpler and faster access to medical care when they are not yet integrated into the Portuguese healthcare system.
In the case of speech therapy, the founders did not think twice about adding it to the clinic’s list of services, as patients’ difficulties are often related to jaw formation and breathing problems.
“There are many situations, such as jaw growth, that are directly related to breathing problems, which, in turn, also affects how children pronounce sounds,” explains Ana Pragosa, adding that the clinic previously had to refer patients to other clinics when these problems were detected.
In dentistry, “we use functional braces that will stimulate or make some changes during growth, and speech therapy is a very important support therapy for children to develop more effective responses. One thing complements the other,” said the co-founder of Vitra Clinic.
While speech therapy can improve the dentistry experience of younger patients, aesthetics serves a similar function in adults.
“Teeth may be perfect, but the smile is always encompassed by everything else. Therefore, we decided to include aesthetic treatments, mainly facial treatments,” said Pragosa, adding that “small adjustments can make all the difference in establishing self-confidence.”
Among the “beauty, rejuvenation, and facial harmonisation treatments” offered are botulinum toxin, better known as “botox”, medical chemical peels, capillary mesotherapy, sclerotherapy, Radiesse fillers, Sculptra bio-stimulators and more.
Being a “leading clinic” is the goal of the owners who intend to “provide families with a complete response to their basic needs”, creating a connection between dentistry and family medicine, allowing for a more regular monitoring of children’s growth.
The start of this new phase at Vitra Clinic is exciting not only for the founders, but also all the staff members and health professionals who are part of the team.
Vitra Clinic is located at Rua Jacinto Correia, Ed. Atrium, 8400-398 Lagoa | 282 353 285 | [email protected]
By BEATRIZ MAIO
