We are very excited to be opening soon and welcoming back our patients.
The New Norm Patient Journey incorporates a number of safety protocols to protect you and our team. It has been created based on multiple updated sources from within the dental and medical professions and the government.
Things will be a little different than before as we are taking a number of precautions to ensure that your journey with us is as smooth and most importantly as SAFE and EFFICIENT as possible.
BEFORE ATTENDING AT THE PRACTICE
We will be contacting patients and confirming appointments ahead of their scheduled time. We will request that all patients who are attending Dental Rooms update their standard medical and dental history forms beforehand. These forms will now be in electronic format and we will no longer be using paper forms. The assessment forms include a new section which will allow us to assess your level of risk for coronavirus infection before you attend the surgery. These forms will be sent to you via email.
We will carry out a pre-attendance assessment via your completed Medical History/Assessment forms at least three days before your appointment and, if necessary, a follow-up telephone conversation to assess relative coronavirus infection risk. Our staff will contact you to remind you of this if we have not received your completed forms. If you have any difficulties with completing the forms we can help you with this over the phone. A dentist may also carry out a video consultation with you to assess your dental problem prior to your visit so that a treatment plan and cost estimate can be sent to you.
If we feel that you are at risk of having possibly been infected, even if you are asymptomatic, we will respectfully request for you to delay booking any appointments with us for at least 2 weeks. If we do not receive the completed questionnaire in time and we are unable to contact you, we may need to cancel your appointment. You may be charged for the appointment if we are unable to fill it at short notice as per our normal terms and conditions.
We recommend that patients in the high-risk groups for developing complications from coronavirus delay non-essential dental treatment for as long as possible, until the trend of the pandemic becomes clear. If you are in a high risk group and do require treatment, we will schedule your appointment at the beginning of the day. To find out whether you are in a high or very high-risk group, please see the link here.
Dental Rooms will be operating contactless payment systems going forwards, and we will request that payment is made online or over the phone for your appointment prior to you attending if you do not have a means of making contactless payment at the time of your visit. This reduces the requirement for unnecessary contact or use of pin entries on card terminals at reception.
ARRIVING AT THE PRACTICE
When travelling to the practice, we would recommend that you limit close contact with other members of the public as much as possible. When you arrive at the practice, please call us on 020 8946 2426 to let us know you are here.
If travelling by car, please stay in your car once parked and call the practice to let the team know you are here. They will instruct you and let you know if the dentist is ready for you. We will meet all patients at the front door and bring them straight into the surgery. One adult is able to attend with a child; please do not bring additional family members with you unless they are happy to wait in the car or outside the building.
When you attend the practice, we will welcome you and ask for you to place all your belongings in a bag. This bag will accompany you to your surgery. We recommend that you limit what you bring into the building. Please bring your own mask with you to the practice, which must be worn at all times except when undergoing treatment.
We will take your temperature with a no-touch thermometer. If your temperature is above 37.8°C, you will be unable to enter the practice and will be asked to return home and self-isolate as per current government guidelines.
We intend to eliminate waiting inside the practice and at reception. Accordingly, appointments will be staggered so that patients do not arrive or leave at the same time as other patients as far as we are able to manage. The restrooms are currently out of use and we respectfully request that you use the lavatory prior to coming into the practice.
If you are well, we will direct you straight to the surgery and request that you do the following before or during your appointment:
- Use the hand sanitiser in the reception area or thoroughly wash your hands for 30 seconds with the antiseptic handwash provided in the surgery
- We may ask you to use a Hydrogen Peroxide mouthwash before some dental treatments are provided
- Rubber dam or other barrier mechanisms will be used for more procedures than previously.
PRACTICE PROCEDURES
The Dental Rooms team have spent time critically looking at every aspect of the practice with a view to removing all non-essential items that can potentially be the cause of infection.
You will find that the practice may appear to be quite bare when you attend.
We regret that during this interim period, we will not be providing our normal tea and coffee services in the interests of reducing all opportunities for cross infection to a minimum. Water will be available upon request.
All clinical and common areas including door handles and surfaces will be regularly disinfected in addition to our normal surface cleaning protocols between patients.
Dental Rooms will be providing a buffer period between patients to allow time for additional decontamination procedures, allow for any treatment overruns, and allow preparation time for the next patient so that they do not need to wait in the reception area.
All your future appointments will be made and confirmed by email or telephone to limit your time spent at reception.
DENTAL PROCEDURES
All dental staff will be using personal protective equipment in line with current recommendations and evidence.
We apologise in advance for the necessary reduction in social interaction that this will necessitate. Whilst our masks may make us appear impersonal and distant, please be assured we are still the same friendly team underneath it all!
We are especially mindful that many dental treatments are aerosol-generating procedures (AGP’s). It is difficult for us to carry out some dental procedures without generation of some level of aerosol. Aerosol suspended in the air is a theoretical source of infection which we obviously wish to keep to a minimum.
Currently the dental literature suggests:
- Our use of our normal high-volume suction reduces aerosol production by over 90%.
- The use of dental rubber dam where possible reduces bio aerosols by a further 30 to 90%.
- Our regular surgical facemasks filter approximately 60% of remaining airborne particles.
- FFP2 and FFP3 masks filter 94% and 99% respectively of airborne particles in both directions (patient to clinician and clinician to patient).
We therefore feel that our normal dental procedures can be carried out with minimal risk by the use of high-volume suction, rubber dam, surgical and FFP2 masks and, in aerosol generating procedures FFP3 masks as appropriate.
Fees
Our utmost concern and priority is to continue to provide an unparalleled level of dental health care and exceptional customer service to you and your family, in a safe environment. Equally, we remain committed to fees which reflect the value and quality of services you receive at Dental Rooms.
We are extremely proud of our team who have been able to hold fees for the past 2 years. However, the Coronavirus pandemic has had a significant financial impact on the re-opening of the clinic, with increased costs of PPE and a significantly reduced capacity to see patients. As a result, there will be a general fee increase across our services which will be coming into effect from July 2020. In addition, if you require an aerosol generating procedure, there will be an additional charge of £38 for the use of enhanced PPE. We are extremely proud of our team who have been able to hold fees for the past 2 years. The new schedule of fees will be available on our website soon. For more information, call us on 020 8946 2426.
Summary
The vast majority of our patients are otherwise healthy without coronavirus infection and we are confident that we are able to provide dental care for these patients in as normal an environment as possible, while bearing in mind our responsibilities to mitigate risks of infection spread as far as is practically possible.
This guide will be constantly reviewed and updated as necessitated by circumstances over time.
When you have an appointment you will be contacted by our COVID Ambassador who will guide and help you through all the processes and procedures….we are here to help.
If you have any questions regarding your dental care at Dental Rooms please do not hesitate to contact us on reception@dentalrooms.co.uk
With Kind Regards,
Dental Rooms