We are delighted to say that from the 8th June we have opened our dental practice after a huge amount of work behind the scenes to keep our staff and patients safe. We have made a major investment in our business including:
Newly painted exterior and signage. No more black!
One of the most pressing issues in dentistry at the moment is when will we be able to re-open for emergency dental appointments. It is has been nearly 2 months since we were forced to close our doors. Despite what the Government may say, on the 25th March the Chief Dental Officer stated:
1. All routine, non-urgent dental care including orthodontics should be stopped and deferred until advised otherwise.
2. All practices should establish (independently or by collaboration with others) a remote urgent care service, providing telephone triage for their patients with urgent needs during usual working hours, and whenever possible treating with:
a. Advice
b. Analgesia
c. Antimicrobial means where appropriate
3. If the patient’s condition cannot be managed by these means, then they will need to be referred to the appropriate part of their Local Urgent Dental Care system. These new arrangements will involve providers working with defined groups of patients to manage urgent dental care needs only, with appropriate separation arrangements in place to manage patient status and professional safety
By all accounts, this ordered an immediate halt to all dental services within primary care. In my local area, Fulham, SW6 London, I have not been informed of a local urgent dental care centre that I am able to refer extreme emergency cases to. The advice given by various bodies ( I shall not name them) was to call 111. Frankly, this may have been almost acceptable in the early stages of the pandemic but NOT 7 weeks after the statement. Thousands of patients across the country have been left in pain and distress with the advice to take pain killers and anti biotics, which as we all know, are only effective when infection is present.
In this respect, I spent many hours reviewing the literature to provide some evidence-based analysis on how we can protect ourselves, our patients and get back to work after lockdown. If you are interested in reading this article, it was published by Dentistry and the link is here.
The summary involves 10 key points which are easy to implement and allow us to get back to work as soon as possible. These include:
1. Careful screening of patients pre treatment
2. Alteration of patient appointment times/ flexible time frames
3. Reception screening, social distancing measures.
4. Consider clean air systems within reception areas and surgeries such as those involving air suctioning pre filters, HEPA filters, carbon filters and UV lamps
5. Reducing aerosol
6. Always use high volume suction or HVA
7. Use rubber dam or consider additional isolation systems such as Isovac/Isolite
8. Provide assistants to hygiene/therapists for HVA
9. Enhanced PPE especially for those at greater risk of Covid 19
10. Extra time for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces including areas not previously cleaned
These are measured points that will go a large way to help our profession back to work and re-start the process of opening our dental clinics in London and across the UK.
Should you have a dental emergency, please do not hesitate to contact me. Although we cannot see you right now, I can try to help as best as I can remotely and arrange an appointment as soon as we can re-open.
www.progressivedentistry.co.uk
t 0207 7311162
e info@progressivedentistry.co.uk
Article written by Dr Nissit Patel
If you are undergoing orthodontic treatment at this present time, I can appreciate that it is probably quite a worry about when your next appointment may be. After all, orthodontic treatment is all about seeing progress for teeth straightening and it is unlikely the next adjustment or review appointment will be for some time yet.
However, it is important to stay positive and remember the fact that things will return to some level of normality in the near future and that teeth can always be straightened despite the time delay!
On that note, I thought it would be useful to discuss orthodontic emergencies and how to manage them at home during lock down. The most common types of problems encountered listed below with some helpful tips on how to manage them at home.
As of 8/4/20, there have been no general updates with regards to the provision of general dental care in a practice like ours, based in Fulham London. This is an incredibly frustrating time for of all us here especially for those of you who are in need of routine emergency dental care which could be a simple tooth fracture, a lost crown, a broken denture, a lost filling, an ulcer or gum bleeding for example. Most dental emergencies are not classified as being urgent or life threatening such as a rapidly increasing swelling, head trauma or difficult in breathing from bleeding after a tooth extraction.
Whilst we accept that the decision by the health and governing bodies are designed to stop the spread of coronavirus by limiting face to face contact between dentist and patient, this does leave many hundreds if not thousands of patients with anxiety about when their emergency can be seen to and whether the problem is going to get much worse during the delay.
During this period of lockdown, it will be increasingly difficult to access dental care apart from severe emergency treatment. I have therefore written guide on how to manage routine dental emergencies at home and how we can help over the phone. I hope it is of some use.
With the UK currently in shut down due to the Coronavirus, I thought it would be useful to post some information on the background of the virus and how it affects us as a dental practice at Progressive Dentistry. We are currently open for emergency treatments only and those at low risk of transmission. Please feel free to contact me: e nissit@progressivedentistry.co.uk WhatsApp +44 7508 663942 Dr Nissit Patel
I would like to assure you that as I write this blog post at 1020 19/3/20 our doors are still open to you with the commitment of providing ongoing oral health care to the very highest standards. All staff at the practice are fit and healthy and unless we are told otherwise, we are happy to maintain your appointments. However, we fully understand should you wish to re arrange treatments for now.
Infection control has always been a fundamental tenet of our dental practice and we have always taken great pride in providing a clean and safe environment. As a routine, we use anti bacterial and virucidal sprays on the dental chair, x ray machines, surfaces and equipment after each patient visit. This has now been extended to door handles, reception area, bar area and cloakroom. Our sterilization processes are robust with logged autoclave cycles after each and every cycle. As well as pre cleaning of instruments, ultrasonic baths are used to further remove debris.
We have always managed cross infection as if every single patient we treat is potential risk hence this way we do not discriminate and every single staff member is therefore aware of their responsibilities.
Alcohol spray and gel is available at reception and we advise a 'gel in and out' approach. We have great cleaning staff who are as dedicated to hygiene as we are.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions that you may have.
e info@progressivedentistry.co.uk
t 0207 7311162
Whatsapp +44 7508 663942
We will also be introducing video consultations very shortly which will be available for emergency and routine appointments. I will send a separate e mail once this has been fully instigated.
I have attached a useful poster which highlights the advice we have been given as a health care provider.
When you have an intense craving or fondness for sweet foods, then you are said to have a sweet tooth. The chances are that you drool over the likes of chocolates, cakes, cookies, and sweetened drinks.
They say that with age comes wisdom. Your wisdom tooth, which is the last to emerge during your early 20's or late teens, hence the term wisdom tooth. The wisdom tooth belongs to the molar group known as the third molar, which is found in the back of the mouth. When the wisdom tooth emerges, some people do not have problems at all. But for some, it results in oral issues, such as swelling around the tooth, bleeding, pain, infection and possibly contributing to teeth crowding. An impacted wisdom tooth refers to the wisdom tooth that fails to break through the gums at all or only partially through. This tooth problem may obstruct the normal development of your other teeth. It may even lead to infection, as well as pain and discomfort. The worse things that may result out of this include dental problems, such as cysts and bone damage. When confronted with an abnormal wisdom tooth, the best course of action is to visit a dental office and consult a dentist. Be wary of the following symptoms: