Latest News…
National Lockdown 2 & 3 **WE ARE STILL OPEN**
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a second national lockdown due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases on the 31st October 2020 and a third national lockdown on the 4th January 2021.
Aspects Dental & Referral will still be open as usual. There is no restriction with regards to medical and dental treatment, and you are actively encouraged to keep your appointments. At Aspects Dental & Referral, we have all the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and we will continue to follow our high standards in cross infection control with a robust triaging policy to ensure the safety of both patients and staff. Those that have already had appointments will know the extensive measures already in place.
Dental Practices are one of the safest places to be. We hold extremely tight cross-infection policies, and we are used to dealing with diseases, viruses, etc. Our Dentists, Hygienists, and Nurses spend years studying this subject. We have air filters that are purifying the air in all the rooms. We have air extraction units in every room to comply with safe business and medical standards. We are a safe place. You are safe with us. We really feel for the businesses who have to close yet again. Businesses…if you need any advice about cross infection control, we are here and we will help you.
If you would like to speak to us, please Contact Aspects Dental on 01908 506199 or alternatively, you can use our Online Booking System to Book A Dentist Appointment Online.
National Lockdown 1
Dear Patients
Following the recent Government announcement to start lifting some Coronavirus restrictions, we’re pleased to inform you that we’ll be offering Dentist Appointments from Monday 8th June 2020, to see both existing and New Patients.
Following the recent reduction in the Coronavirus Alert Level from 4 to 3 on Friday 19th June 2020, we’re now able to offer more Dental Treatments, including the following:
• New Patient Examinations
• Emergency Dentist Appointments
• Tooth Extractions
• Extirpation (Stage 1 Of Root Canal Treatment)
• Dental Fillings
• Dentures
From Wednesday 1st July 2020, we’ll be resuming Dental Hygienist Appointments.
For more information on what we’re currently offering, please Call Aspects Dental on 01908 506199 or alternatively, you can Request A Call Back from our friendly team. Please see below more details on our New Processes & Procedures:
We are very excited to be re-opening and welcoming back our patients…
The New Norm Patient Journey incorporates a number of safety protocols to protect you and the Aspects Dental 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 DENTAL PRACTICE
We will be contacting patients and confirming dentist appointments ahead of their scheduled time. We will request that all patients who are attending Aspects Dental 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 dental 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 dentist 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 arrange a telephone call 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 dentist 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 dentist appointment. You may be charged for the dentist appointment if we are unable to fill it at short notice as per our normal terms and conditions.
We recommend that dental 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 dental treatment, we will schedule your dentist appointment at the beginning of the morning or afternoon session. To find out whether you are in a high or very high-risk group, please visit the link here.
Aspects Dental will be operating contactless payment systems going forwards, and we will request that payment is made online or over the phone for your dentist 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 DENTAL PRACTICE
When travelling to the dental practice, we would recommend that you limit close contact with other members of the public as much as possible. When you arrive at the dental practice, please call us on 01908 506199 to let us know you are here.
If travelling by car, please stay in your car once parked and call the dental 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 dental 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 dental practice, we will welcome you and ask for you to place all your belongings in your personalised check-in box. This box will accompany you to your dentist appointment. We recommend that you limit what you bring into the building.
We intend to eliminate waiting inside the dental practice and at reception. Accordingly, dentist 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. We will no longer be able to offer the use of our toilet facilities during your dentist appointment. You may seek permission from a member of staff in case of emergency.
If you are well, we will direct you straight to the surgery and request that you do the following before or during your dentist appointment:
- Use the hand sanitiser at the dental practice entrance.
- 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 Aspects Dental Team have spent time critically looking at every aspect of the dental practice with a view to removing all non-essential items that can potentially be the cause of infection.
You will find that the dental 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 dental patients.
Aspects Dental will be providing a buffer period between dental patients to allow time for additional decontamination procedures, allow for any treatment overruns, and allow preparation time for the next dental patient so that they do not need to wait in the reception area.
All your future dentist 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 Aspects Dental 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 face masks, and in aerosol generating procedures FFP3 masks as appropriate.
SUMMARY
The vast majority of our dental 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 a dentist 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 Aspects Dental, please do not hesitate to Contact Us by Calling 01908 506199 or via email – info@aspectsdental.com
Kind Regards,
Aspects Dental & Referral
