We re-opened Monday June 15th 2020!

We were delighted to announce that, following the recommendation of the Office of the Chief Dental Officer for England, we were able to re-open the surgery on June 15th. Iniitally, we only treated those patient who required emergency treatment during the National lockdown period.

Having eventually obtained the required PPE,  from July 13th 2020, we have been able to offer all treatments that we usually provide.

We are currently providing routine dental care for all out patients.

To do this, we will have to make radical changes to our diaries, due to our new regulations under which we are compelled to work. Inevitably there will be a period of transition. We apologise for the fact that, although open again, we still have  a considerable backlog of patients to contact in order return to the full service that we used to provide

Please be patient, as this may take quite a few weeks to sort out. It will be necessary for those of you who are used to coming every 3 months, 6 months or so to accept that we will not be able to see you all as regularly as we did initially, but that once the backlog of treatments have been completed, and our new regime of work fully established, we will endeavour to attain that regularity that you are used to. We do apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Due to the ever-changing nature of this Pandemic, and the fact that recommendations, regulations and protocols for easing lockdown are changing daily, sometimes hourly, it has not been sensible to write to every patient personally, particularly as by the time the letter is received, the facts have almost certainly changed. We will endeavour to email everyone of our patients, for whom we have a current email address, and recommend that you keep checking this website, which has been updated regularly throughout, sometimes on a daily basis. Please inform others who may not have an email address that information can be obtained from this website.

 

The following advice for those who are at risk is taken from the British Dental Association's guidance for returing to work after the lockdown. This guidance is continually being updated, so if you are in any of the following categories, please check the latest government updates at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19 

 

Patients at risk from Coronavirus 

There are two groups of people who are at risk: 

A. Clinically extremely vulnerable 

1. Solid organ transplant recipients. 

2. People with specific  cancers: 

• People with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy 

• People with lung cancer who are undergoing radical radiotherapy 

• People with cancers of the blood or bone marrow who are at any stage of treatment 

• People having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer 

• People having other targeted cancer treatments  which can affect the immune system 

• People who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immuno-suppression drugs. 

3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary (COPD). 

4. People with rare diseases that significantly increase the risk of infections. 

5. People on immuno-suppression therapies sufficient to increase risk of infection significantly. 

6. Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired. 

The advice around ‘shielding’ has been:  

  1. Do not leave your house.  

 

  1. Do not attend any gatherings, including gatherings of friends and families in private spaces, for example, family homes, weddings and religious services. 

 

  1. Strictly avoid contact with someone who is displaying symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19). 

 

As of August 2020 the Government has relaxed the shielding requirements that up until this date had been in place.

B) Clinically vulnerable 

If a patient has any of the following health conditions, they are considered clinically vulnerable, meaning they are at higher risk of severe illness from coronavirus. They are advised to stay at home as much as possible and if they go out to take particular care to minimise contact with others outside their household. 

 

Clinically vulnerable people are those who are: 

 

  • Aged 70 or older (regardless of medical conditions) 
  • Under 70 with an underlying health condition listed below (that is, anyone instructed to get a flu jab each year on medical grounds): 
  • Chronic (long-term) mild to moderate respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema or bronchitis 
  • Chronic heart disease, such as heart failure 
  • Chronic kidney disease 
  • Chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis 
  • Chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), or cerebral palsy 
  • Diabetes 
  • A weakened immune system as the result of certain conditions, treatments like chemotherapy, or medicines such as steroid tablets 
  • Being seriously overweight (a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or above) 
  • Pregnant women. 

 

NB as we have all the required PPE available, we are able to see patients from both groups, IF they are prepared to attend the surgery. This can be for routine treatment as well; the reasoning being that if these patients are in pain, we will be seeing them anyway – there is no difference with respect to PPE required for these groups either in an emergency situation or for a routine visit.

It will be for the patient to decide whether  [1] they feel the need to attend and [2] they feel comfortable attending; their dentist can triage them beforehand if necessary to ascertain what is best in their individual situation. We appreciate that for some, the preference will be to avoid attending at this stage. We fully understand your concerns, and are happy to delay appointments with you until you feel more confident in attending. We will be available, however, should you experience any problems and will happy to assist you in the best way we can.