Surgery Reopening

Dear Patients

Today we have received communication from the office of the Chief Dental Officer for England which sets out, to some degree, how we may return to treating patients face to face. If you have a routine appointment booked with us up to Friday 19th June, please consider this cancelled for now. We understand this situation is not ideal, but we are still here for you to offer advice, support and guidance over the phone by calling us on 0121 6339535.

From 8th June we will be starting to see patients face-to-face. Your familiar team of friendly dentists, receptionists and nurses will be providing you with the outstanding service you have been used to but with some small changes in place to protect you and your family:

• Please enter the practice wearing a face mask
• User hand sanitiser upon entry

Thank you for your patience while we begin to see patients again. The safety and well-being of our patients and our team are at the heart of everything we do. We will continually update our procedures and our advice in the light of the evidence as lockdown measures are eased.

How will it work?

1 You will receive a triage call from one of our team prior to your visit who will risk assess your Covid-19 status by asking you some simple questions.

2 If you are asked to attend the practice, please attend as close as possible to your appointment time, observing social distancing within the practice. Please attend on your own: one adult may attend with a child.

3 Please use the hand sanitiser and mask provided upon entering the practice and follow the social distancing signage.

4 Please minimise use of the washroom facilities, always wash your hands thoroughly and re-use the sanitiser provided.

5 We will ask you to make payment in advance of your appointment by card over the phone to minimise contact.

6 Follow up appointments will be booked over the phone or using our online booking service.

How will I be protected in the surgery?

We have developed our standard operating procedure after carefully reviewing the advice from our professional bodies, regulatory authority and published evidence. We have spent time sourcing the required screening, protective equipment and training our team members to be safe for us to re-open. 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. Although we may look a bit difference, underneath we are still our professional, friendly selves! 

Our normal cross-infection control protocols at The Dentist at Liberty Place protect against all previously known pathogens and are already woven into all clinical activity carried out at the practice. 

It should be remembered that a dental practice is already a very clean & sterile environment compared to public areas and there is no evidence of COVID-19 transmission occurring in increased rates in dentists or their teams

We are especially mindful that many dental treatments are aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs). 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 research 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 (for AGPs) filter 94% and 99% respectively of airborne particles in both directions (patient to clinician and clinician to patient). 

We will be allowing extra time between appointments to allow for additional cleaning, sterilisation and cross-infection measures.