Coronavirus Update
24/7/20
As regular visitors to our social media pages or website will be aware, we commenced face to face appointments from June 8th with limited treatment options and further extended this on 20th July to include aerosol generated procedures (AGP). The implementation of this was only undertaken following extensive research in collaboration with the current guidance from all official bodies and through practice risk assessments.
The procedures necessary for the safety of our patients and dental team are, at the least, arduous and demanding. Following a procedure involving a drill, ultrasonic scaler or air and water spray (AGP) the surgery must be left empty for 60 minutes in accordance with regulation before deep cleaning can even commence. The dental team in surgery are now kitted out in single use long sleeve gowns, full respirator type FFP3 masks, surgical masks covering this and full-face visors. Our infection control procedures have always been stringent, and you can be assured that all the measures advised to protect our patients and team are being taken. The time constraints involved and physical distancing requirements restricting the number of surgeries in use, as I’m sure you will appreciate, have impacted greatly on our capacity to provide appointments. We are currently able to see less than 20% of the volume of patients that we would have been treating prior to the pandemic for these reasons. We appreciate the frustration caused when we are unable to offer routine and non-urgent treatments and we share this as we have been here throughout the lockdown period triaging calls, offering advice, prescriptions, referrals and appointments as necessary. As is the situation with most practices we will continue to triage all contact and prioritise the most urgent dental care needs. It may be that your dentist will need to call you back, therefore, we ask that you keep us updated with any changes to your contact details and we welcome emailed photographs as part of our triaging.
Thank you for your continued patience and understanding, we are working hard to be able to resume routine appointments and will do so as soon as it is recommended and logistically possible.
Managing Toothache at Home
Stay at home if you have either;
Stay at home if you have either:
- a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
Use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do.
The measures we are taking proactively are a proportionate response to the ongoing COVID-19 developments and will help ensure we can best meet the needs of our patients during a sustained period of pressure.
The situation is being reviewed daily.
The latest NHS guidance on coronavirus is available via the link below.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
Due to a higher anticipated call volume our email service is available for you to cancel your appointment. You may not receive a reply but please be assured that action will be taken.
info@borestreetdentalpractice.co.uk
This advice will be updated as necessary and posted via our social media pages.