Practice News

We would like to confirm that the Practice will remain open during the current Tier 4 coronavirus restrictions for both urgent and routine dental appointments.  Official government guidance states that the general public are allowed to leave their homes to access medical services and the Chief Dental Officer for England has confirmed that this includes dental services.

The health and well-being of our staff and patients remains our priority and the Practice is currently operating with a reduced number of surgeries to limit the number of people within the premises at any one time.  This means that the availability and choice of appointments is limited and we thank everyone in advance for their patience and understanding with this matter.

To help improve access, the Practice opening hours have temporarily been extended as follows –

• Monday, Wednesday, Thursday – 8.15am – 7.45pm;
• Tuesday – 8.15am – 5.15pm;
• Friday – 8.15am – 5pm
• Saturday (by arrangement only) – 9am – 12.30pm

Any patients requiring an appointment should contact the Practice on (01629) 812991 and a member of our reception team will be available to arrange a convenient appointment.

Please be aware that we have made numerous changes to our standard operating procedures and a summary of our new patient journey can be found here.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our patients a Happy Christmas and New Year!

Below are our modified opening hours during the festive period –

• Thursday 24th December: 9am – 4pm
• Christmas Day – CLOSED
• Boxing Day – CLOSED
• Sunday 27th December – CLOSED
• Monday 28th December (BANK HOLIDAY) – CLOSED
• Tuesday 29th December: 9am – 4pm
• Wednesday 30th December: 9am – 4pm
• Thursday 31st December: 9am – 4pm
• Friday 1st January – CLOSED
• Saturday 2nd January – CLOSED
• Sunday 3rd January – CLOSED
• Monday 4th January: NORMAL WORKING HOURS (8.15am – 8pm)

Private and Denplan patients who require out-of-hours emergency treatment or advice should contact the Practice and listen to the instructions on our answerphone.

An out-of-hours emergency service is held at Scarsdale, Chesterfield, for NHS patients – please contact the Practice on our normal phone number and details can obtained from our answerphone message.

We would like to confirm that the Practice will remain open during the forthcoming COVID-19 lockdown period (5th November 2020 – 2nd December 2020) for both urgent and routine dental appointments.  Official government guidance states that the general public are allowed to leave their homes to access medical services and the Chief Dental Officer for England has confirmed that this includes dental services.

The health and well-being of our staff and patients remains our priority and the Practice is currently operating with a reduced number of surgeries to limit the number of people within the premises at any one time.  This means that the availability and choice of appointments is limited and we thank everyone in advance for their patience and understanding with this matter.

To help improve access, the Practice opening hours have temporarily been extended as follows –

• Monday, Wednesday, Thursday – 8.15am – 8pm;
• Tuesday and Friday – 8.15am – 5pm;
• Saturday (by arrangement only) – 9am – 12.30pm

Any patients requiring an appointment should contact the Practice on (01629) 812991 and a member of our reception team will be available to arrange a convenient appointment.

Please be aware that we have made numerous changes to our standard operating procedures and a summary of our new patient journey can be found here.

Non-urgent appointments –

We are currently able to offer our full range of non-urgent services, including –

• Dental examinations (check-ups)
• Hygienist appointments
• Dental implant assessments and treatment
• Aerosol-generating procedures (such as fillings, crowns and bridges)

Any patients requiring an appointment should contact the Practice on (01629) 812991 and a member of our reception team will be available to arrange a convenient appointment.

The health and wellbeing of our staff and patients remains our priority and the Practice is currently operating with a reduced number of surgeries to limit the number of people within the premises at any one time.  This means that the availabilty and choice of appointments is limited and we thank everyone in advance for their patience and understanding with this matter.

To help improve access, the Practice opening hours have temporarily been extended as follows –

• Monday, Wednesday, Thursday – 8.15am – 8pm;
• Tuesday and Friday – 8.15am – 5pm;
• Saturday (by arrangement only) – 9am – 12.30pm

For patients with dental appointments, a summary of our new operating procedures can be found here. 

Emergency appointments –

Patients with dental emergencies will be triaged over the phone to assess whether a face-to-face appointment at the Practice will be required.

For out of hours emergencies, patients should contact the Practice as normal and listen to the instructions on the answerphone message.

Following the successful phased re-opening of the Practice we are now in a position to be able to offer appointments with our dental hygienists.

The well-being of our patients and staff remains our number one priority and we have implemented a number of changes to the way in which we operate to keep everybody as safe as possible.  In order to ensure that we continue to provide the highest standard of care please be aware that this has meant that we have had to increase the length of hygienist appointments and adjust our fees accordingly.  The charge for a routine hygienist appointment (30 minutes) will now be £76.50.

To help with social distancing, please also be aware that the Practice is currently running with a reduced number of surgeries and so the choice of appointments with our hygienists will be limited and we thank you in advance for your understanding with this matter.

Further information on our new procedures can be found here.

We were delighted to re-open the Practice again on Monday 8th June and we have spent this week prioritising patients who have suffered dental problems during the lock-down period.

Our dedicated team have worked extremely hard over the last few weeks to implement new policies and procedures ready for re-opening the Practice to ensure that we continue to protect and safeguard all patients and members of staff.  A summary of these changes can be found here.

We are confident that these measures are working effectively and so we are now able to start to invite patients back to the Practice for their routine dental examinations.  We will be contacting all patients who have had their dental examinations cancelled during the lockdown period to re-book their appointments.  However, in order to assist with social distancing measures, we will only be operating with a reduced number of surgeries and so re-booking invitations will be sent out in small patient groups, starting with patients who had their appointments cancelled first.  At this moment in time, we would kindly request that patients don’t contact the practice to arrange a routine appointment until they have received their re-booking invitation.

Patients who already have a pre-booked exam appointment will receive an e-mail or text message as normal to remind them of their forthcoming appointment and this will include details of our new policies.  Unfortunately, on some occasions it may be necessary to re-arrange appointments to reflect the change in hours of your regular dentist and we thank you in advance for your co-operation with this.

Please be aware that for the next few weeks appointments won’t be available with our dental hygienists.  We are currently working on plans to allow the return of our hygienists and it won’t be long before Sally, Sarah and Toni are back treating patients.  We will keep everyone informed with information regarding this and we will be in touch with all patients to re-arrange any cancelled hygiene appointments.

For anyone experiencing a dental emergency, please contact the practice on (01629) 812991 as normal.  One of our dentists will be available for remote triage and advice and will assess whether you require an emergency appointment.

Kindly note that during the initial period of re-opening there will be a change to our regular opening times which will be as follows –

• Monday-Friday: 9am – 5.30pm  (closed for lunch between 1pm-2pm)

Many thanks for your co-operation during this very difficult time and we look forward to seeing everyone again in the very near future.

This information is intended for patients who have a forthcoming dental appointment.  Further information about appointments and the re-opening of the practice can be found here.

Throughout the current coronavirus pandemic our first priority has been the safety and well-being of our patients and staff and this continues to be the case.  Consequently, we have had to make numerous changes to the way the practice operates in order to continue to safeguard everyone.  We thank you in advance for your understanding and co-operation with the changes which are summarised below.

Pre-arrival –

◊  Patient’s MUST cancel their appointment if they or anyone that they live with has any of the following symptoms:

• a high temperature
• a new, continuous cough
• a loss of, or change to, your sense of smell or taste

◊  Prior to your appointment, a member of our reception team will contact you by phone to discuss with you your individual Covid-19 risk.

◊  All patients will be sent a secure link via email or text message to the documents that would normally be completed at the practice.  To help reduce paperwork we would be most grateful if these forms are completed electronically prior to your appointment on either a tablet, smartphone or PC.

◊  To help with social distancing you can be accompanied by a maximum of one carer or parent, if necessary, but we would politely request that any other members of family wait outside the premises.

◊  Please ensure that you only bring essential personal items with you to your appointments.

◊  In line with government guidance, we would encourage patients to walk to the practice or arrive by car and not by public transport.

◊  Patients must wear a face mask during their visits to the practice.  Please be aware, however, that due to national shortages in PPE we will be unable to supply masks for this purpose.

◊  At the practice, the upstairs toilet facilities will be closed to patients and will be allocated for staff-use only.  The downstairs toilet facilities will be locked and only opened on request – instructions will be left on the entrance to the facilities.  This is because all the surfaces within the toilet facilities will need to be disinfected after every single use.  The facilities won’t therefore be available for toothbrushing during this time.

Upon arrival at the Practice –

◊  Please do not arrive early for you appointment – you will not be permitted entry to the practice before your allocated appointment time.

◊  Upon arrival, only enter the practice when invited to.  If there are patients already waiting then kindly join the queue.  Please also be mindful that pedestrians may be using the alleyway to gain access to other premises so we would advise that you try to keep as close to the wall of the practice as possible to keep the alleyway clear.

◊  You will be greeted by our triage nurse who will confirm your name and enquire whether you or a member of your household are experiencing any coronavirus symptoms, as outlined above.  They will also take your temperature using a contactless forehead thermometer.

◊  The triage nurse will then ask you to disinfect your hands with antibacterial gel at our hand hygiene station and invite you to take a seat in our waiting room.  They will inform our receptionist of your arrival and at this point you will not need to attend the reception desk.  

◊  Floor markers are present inside the practice to aid with social distancing and the chairs in the waiting room have been positioned 2m apart.

◊  To help with cross-infection control, all the literature and policies in the waiting room have been temporarily removed – if you require any leaflets or copies of our policies then please see our receptionist after your appointment who will be more than happy to help.

◊ For the foreseeable future our clinicians will not be collecting patients in person and instead will be calling them to the surgeries via the big screen in the waiting area.

◊  When you are called into our surgeries, you will find that our clinicians will already be dressed in the appropriate PPE including masks and face shields and they will remain like this for the duration of your appointment.  You may also notice some of our non-clinical staff are also wearing PPE.  We appreciate that this can sometimes be very daunting and seem impersonal but we hope you understand why this is necessary during these times.  Some of the procedures we carry out generate aerosols (fine particles in the air) which means that we have to wear enhanced PPE and this looks different to what you will have seen us wear before.  This may be a little bit scary at first for young children so it would perhaps be a good idea just to pre-warn them about this.

◊  Before commencing any treatment, your dentist will present you with a treatment plan on an ipad and will ask if you would like a copy sending to you by e-mail.

◊  Upon leaving the surgery, please immediately disinfect your hands at one of our hand hygiene stations.  An additional station will be positioned on the first floor landing.

◊  After your appointment we would be most grateful if you would visit our reception desk before your departure where our receptionist will assist you with your invoice and book any further appointments.  We would politely request that wherever possible any payments are made by card (preferably contactless) or Apple Pay.  

◊  Our triage nurse will then be available to assist you with your exit from the practice.

Once again we would like to express our sincere thanks for all your understanding and assistance with these new protocols and we look forward to welcoming you back to the practice!

Following advice received from the Chief Dental Officer on Friday 29th May, we are delighted to hear that dental practices will be allowed to re-open on 8th June 2020.

We will schedule a carefully planned, phased resumption of service to account for social distancing measures and the delivery of safe care to ensure we protect our patients and staff.

Our first priority will be the management and care of patients that have suffered urgent dental problems during the lockdown period. We have a comprehensive list of all patients that have contacted us seeking urgent care and advice and we will contact those patients in due course.

This means that for the next few weeks, routine appointments that were already pre-booked will unfortunately need to be cancelled and we are grateful for your understanding and patience with this matter.  Spaces have been held in our appointment book over the next few months to minimise the amount of time that patients will have to wait for a new appointment and we will be in touch with patients whose appointments need to be re-arranged.  At this moment in time, we would kindly request that patients don’t contact the practice to arrange a routine appointment.

For anyone experiencing a dental emergency, please contact the practice on (01629) 812991 as normal.  One of our dentists will be available for remote triage and advice and will assess whether you require an emergency appointment.

During the initial period of re-opening, please be aware that there will be a change to our regular opening times which will be as follows –

• Monday-Friday: 9am – 5.30pm  (closed for lunch between 1pm-2pm)

Many thanks for your co-operation during this very difficult time and we look forward to being able to care for our patients in our practice again.

Given the current situation we all face due to Covid19, it is understandable that normal priorities and routines have changed.  However, it is without doubt that all aspects of our health should remain a priority and, given that dental practices in the UK currently remain closed to face-to-face contact, oral health is particularly important.

Below are a few simple tips that we hope you will find useful during this lockdown period to help reduce the risk of a dental problem –

1. Allocate sufficient time in your day to brush your teeth on at least two occasions for a minimum of 2 minutes each time.  Ideally, use an electric toothbrush and a fluoridated toothpaste.
2. Use interdental brushes at least once a day – this is just as important as regular brushing.
3.  A loss of a normal routine can lead to changes in eating habits, especially in young children who are away from school.  Try to avoid snacking on sugary foods and drinks – rice cakes and vegetable sticks are ideal low sugar snack alternatives.
4. Stay hydrated – drinking water after every meal not only helps to hydrate our body but also helps to wash away some of the negative effects of acidic and sticky foods.

Please remember that one of our dentists will always be available at the Practice from 9am – 5pm on weekdays during this lockdown period and we continue to operate an out-of-hours emergency advice service for Denplan patients.  If you have a dental problem or require any help or advice regarding your oral health then don’t hestitate to contact us – we are here to help!

Following the advice issued by the Chief Dental Officer for England on 25th March 2020 regarding the coronavirus pandemic, we have taken the measure of closing the Practice to all routine, non urgent dental care. We are currently in the process of contacting all affected patients to reschedule their dental appointments.

The Practice will continue to operate a remote urgent care service during normal working hours in the form of telephone triage which patients can use for advice regarding dental emergencies, including the prescription of antibiotics where appropriate.  This can be accessed through our normal phone number on (01629) 812991.

If a patient is found to require additional urgent dental treatment they will be referred to a Local Urgent Dental Care Clinic where treatment will be provided with specialist protective equipment to reduce the risk of potential transmission of the coronavirus.

Please be aware that the Practice is required by law to pass on the personal details of all patients who undertake telephone triage to NHS England.  The details that are sent include a patients name, address and date of birth.

Patients requiring out of hours advice should contact the Practice as normal on the number given above and follow the instructions on the answerphone.

We appreciate all your help and understanding during these extremely difficult times.  The safety and well-being of our staff, patients and the wider community is always our number one priority and we hope that all patients understand why these measures have been put into place.

We will keep everyone updated regarding any changes to this policy and we look forward to welcoming all our patients back to the Practice as soon as it is practically possible.  In the meantime, we would urge everyone to adhere to the current advice – STAY SAFE AND STAY AT HOME.