Welcoming Patients Back To Our Canterbury Practice

Operational changes you will see as we welcome you back.

The lockdown restrictions have seemed like an eternity to us as they may have done to you, especially if you have been suffering with a dental problem that is causing discomfort. So you will be pleased to know that as from 8th June, we have started to gradually open our practice to patients again.

This is good news of course, but it does come with quite a few new restrictions as well. This isn’t ideal, but is necessary to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus and, of course, to protect our staff and patients. In today’s blog, we are going to take a look at some of the changes that you might expect when you arrive for your appointment.

Your appointment

Whilst we want to see all of you again as soon as we can, it is important that we prioritise those who have suffered a problem that was not urgent enough to be treated at an urgent dental centre. This could include problems like a toothache which, as anyone who has had one will know, can be very uncomfortable indeed. If you have had a problem for a large part of the shutdown period, you will, no doubt, wish to have it treated as soon as possible. If you require a non urgent appointment, we ask you please to be patient whilst we treat those most in need first.

There will be changes to how your appointment is kept, with a minimal amount of people allowed to wait in our waiting rooms. We have already covered a lot of this in our latest Covid-19 notice which you can see here.

PPE

PPE, or personal protective equipment, has been in the news a lot and you will be aware that there has been a huge worldwide demand for this. We continue to source the necessary equipment to make your visit as safe as possible.

The wearing of PPE by our dental team will be one of the most noticeable differences that you will see when you come for treatment. Please be aware that these close fitting masks do make it much more difficult to carry out the type of friendly casual conversations that you are used to when you come to our Canterbury dental practice.  We are aware that some of you find this ‘casual’ chat’ very helpful in helping you to relax prior to your treatment. This is likely to be more restricted for a while but please do remember that we are the same friendly dental team behind the masks!

If the Covid-19 situation has made you more anxious about returning to the dentist, please do remember that avoiding coming to see us when appointments are available is very likely to lead to further problems such as tooth decay or gum disease. It is usually far less invasive to treat a problem early than delay it which may then require more invasive dental surgery. If you are anxious about your return, please discuss this with us so that we can do what we can to help you receive essential oral care.

The last few months have been a challenging time for most of us, and the next few are likely to be too, albeit in different ways. We will all have to face and find new ways of doing things in many different areas of our lives, and visiting the dentist is no different.

We promise our patients that we are doing all that we can to return to some sort of normality as quickly as possible, whilst staying within government guidelines and making sure that we keep our staff and patients safe.

Please help us to do this by being patient, abiding by the new procedures that we will be setting out and taking responsibility yourself too. If you are feeling ill, even if you don’t know if it is the coronavirus, please don’t attend the practice and advise as soon as you can. Even if you are feeling healthy, please make sure to follow procedures and take appropriate precautions such as using the hand sanitising gels that will be stationed around the practice.

It is still early days, but any start is a good start and we hope that we will be able to return to some sort of normality in the not too distant future. If you have a dental problem that is causing you pain or discomfort and would like to see a dentist about it, please contact Bradley and Partners Dental and Implant Clinic on 01227 463529.