Further to my last post, Rose Cottage Dental Practice will be opening its doors again on Monday the 8th of June. However, it will not be open as it was before, as there need to be a number of changes to ensure safety for staff and patients. Let me talk you through a few of the changes to our current situation.
Who we are seeing.
At first we will be contacting patients who we have had to triage during the period when we were closed. Some patients had to have antibiotics, but are still in desperate need of having a tooth out, so we'll be contacting them. Of course once we are open we will be able to see any new emergency patients as well.
After that we'll be seeing the less urgent patients, including those who have broken teeth etc.
We'd love to get back to routine check ups as soon as we can, but this is going to take time, and procedures that involve water spray like fillings or tooth scaling are to be avoided as much as we can while the Covid Alert Level is high.
If you do need an appointment you'll notice a few differences too. It goes something like this
When making the appointment we will ask you a number of health questions to make sure there is low risk of you having Covid-19.
If the appointment is booked in advance we will ring you again on the day before your appointment or earlier the same day to check that you’re still healthy.
You’ll need to arrive at the practice on time; not early, not late. We don’t want any more people at the practice than we can help, so being on time is really important.
It’s also important to come alone if you can, and not bring any more stuff than you need to (coats, bags, etc.)
When you come into the practice you’ll be asked to disinfect your hands using an alcohol based hand rub, and not touch anything.
The receptionists will be behind a screen, and all the magazines and most of the chairs have been removed from the waiting area.
You’ll be taken straight through to surgery by a nurse in PPE, and the dentist will already have his/her mask and gloves on.
We’ll agree the treatment, get it done, and agree if we need any more appointments.
If you do need to come back we’ll probably have to give you a ring to arrange this.
You’ll disinfect your hands again, and exit the practice through a different door.
We’re allowing extra time in between patients to clean and disinfect the surgery and beyond, so you may not see another patient while you are with us.
Now I know this may all seem quite strange but it's important that we keep everyone as safe as possible. I'm told that if the Covid Alert Level reduces to 2 we will be back to how it was, but until then please bear with us!