To all Patients of Hillside Dental

You may have heard that dental practices can open to routine care from Monday 8 June 2020.

Advice for patients

Routine dentistry during COVID-19 requires the correct social distancing measures and personal protective equipment to be in place. That’s why routine dentistry was suspended with the outbreak of coronavirus. In England, dentists can return to work from 8 June. A phased return is planned in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

What will dental appointments be like?

Practices will be working hard to source protective equipment and put measures in place to maintain social distancing measures. In England, many will not be able to offer the treatments from 8 June that patients may be used to. Practices will need to prioritise their patients based upon their needs. This will take the form of genuine dental emergency cases.

What is a dental emergency?

1. Toothache or pain-causing disturbed continuous sleep.
2. Any swelling around gums or teeth spreading and leading to an inability to carry out daily duties.
3. Swelling and pain associated with wisdom tooth where one cannot open wide and spreading the infection to ear, side of the head and under the jaw.
4. Fractured or broken tooth, unable to eat or irritating and causing pain and discomfort.
5. Bleeding gums only if there are generalised swelling and tenderness of the gums making it difficult to eat or brush.

Please note the follow are not considered emergencies

Bleeding gums with no pain
fractured teeth or crowns with no pain
fractured or lost dentures
broken fillings with no pain or that is bearable

• If you call to make an appointment, you will be asked some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again at your appointment.
• You will probably be asked to use hand sanitiser or to wash your hands when you arrive (and again before you leave)
• You will also find that waiting rooms might look a little different with two-metre markers in place.
• You will also notice that the dental team may be wearing different protective equipment to what you are used to seeing.
• Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment..

What appointments will be like

• If you call to make an appointment, you will be asked some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again at your appointment
• You will probably be asked to use hand sanitiser or to wash your hands when you arrive (and again before you leave)
• You will also find that waiting rooms might look a little different with two-metre markers in place
• You will also notice that the dental team may be wearing different protective equipment to what you are used to seeing
• Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.

Referrals for certain procedures

Even after your practice has re-opened, please be aware that you may need to be referred to an urgent care centre for treatment.

Most procedures won’t be offered right away in every practice. The supply of essential PPE (particularly certain masks) dictates whether a dentist can offer aerosol-generating procedures. As a result, many practices will continue to triage their patients to urgent dental centres for such treatment.

Our practice will be opening when we are fully ready, we will keep you informed when that might be, but we just wanted to be clear that this may not be business as usual. The treatments you are offered may be different from those you received before, depending on the staff and equipment available. It will take some time before services return to what you previously experienced as normal. Please be patient.

We are implementing the changes to the building and adhering to strict cross-infection procedures and policies. We also have to train all staff members thoroughly on all the new changes especially in social distancing rules and prevention of cross-infection. Our priorities are the staff and patients at this difficult time, so we must allow time for these changes.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our surgery. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our practice follows infection control guidelines made by the governing bodies. We are up-to-date on new guidance that has been issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to recommendations.

You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

• Our practice will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again at your appointment
• We have hand sanitiser that we will ask you to use when you enter the practice. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the practice for you to use as needed.
• We no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect
• Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.

We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.

How you can help

YOUR PATIENCE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED AND AS MUCH INFORMATION PROVIDED OR PREPARED BY YOU IN READINESS FOR WHEN WE CALL YOU OR BOOK YOU, WILL ALLOW THE SERVICES TO RUN SMOOTHLY.

PLEASE SEE BELOW

• Please provide any relevant information relating to coronavirus
• If you had any symptoms, when and how long and what symptoms they
• Also, if you have been around anybody who has had symptoms
• Please provide correct Emails, Telephone numbers. Please look out for information on emails in particular medical history forms and NHS PR forms to fill and submit to the clinic. This will allow for less paperwork at the clinic.
• Please make sure when you call the clinic you have all information ready see below for dental pain and medical history questions.
• Except for children and patients with carers, patients should come alone
• A distance of at least 2 metres must be observed if another patient is present in the dental practice
• Payment should be made by card where possible
• Staff will not shake your hand
• If you show symptoms following appointment booking, you should contact the practice by phone
• Please do not arrive early at the practice. If necessary, you should wait outside the practice
• Please do not arrive without an appointment
• Patients should come wearing a mask if possible or be prepared to wear one.

PLEASE SEND ANY RELEVANT PHOTOS OF GUMS AND TEETH WITH ISSUES TO OUR EMAIL ADDRESS hillsidedentalsurgery@gmail.com.

You may also WhatsApp this information on our WhatsApp number which will be given after your email contact.

BASIC DETAILS PRIOR TO BOOKING A PATIENT

Name:
Occupation:
Confidential Medical History Form
Title: DOB: Address
Postcode:
Home Tel No.
E-mail Address:
How long since you last received dental treatment?
Are you pregnant/possibly pregnant?
Yes/No
Mobile No.
Work No.
Give details and list medications
Give details and list medications
Doctor’s Details
Name Address
In the event of an emergency, please contact
Name
Tel No. Relationship to you
Are you:
Yes No
Yes No
Receiving treatment from a doctor, hospital or clinic?
Taking any medicines (Tablets, Injections, Inhalers, Bisphosphonates)?
Taking or have you taken steroids in the last two years?
Allergic to any medicines, foods or materials?
Have you:
Had rheumatic fever or chorea (St Vitus Dance)? Heart murmur or a heart problem?
Angina, Blood pressure, Heart attack, Stroke?
A pacemaker, or have you had any form of heart surgery?
Asthma, Bronchitis or other chest condition?
Hay fever, eczema, or any other allergy?
Fainting attacks, giddiness, blackouts or Epilepsy?
Had Jaundice, Liver or Kidney disease?
Ever had HIV, Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C?
Have Diabetes or does anyone in your family?
Arthritis, Bone or Joint disease?
Bruising or persistent bleeding after injury, tooth extraction or surgery?
Had a bad reaction to a general or local anaesthetic?
Been hospitalised? If “yes” what for and when?
Carry a medical warning card?
Alcohol and Tobacco Use
Do you currently or did you smoke tobacco products?
How many units of alcohol do you drink? (A unit = half-pint lager/single measure of spirits/single glass of wine)
Are there any other aspects concerning your health or issues that you think the dentist should know about?
Yes No
Number per day Now
Units per week
In past
Signature:____________________________ Completed by: Self/ Parent/ Guardian
Date:_______

BASIC DETAILS IN AN EMERGENCY

ALL OF THE ABOVE IN A ABBREVIATED VERSION AND BELOW;

Points in the history of a patient in dental pain

• Site of pain (ask the patient to point with one finger to the place of maximum pain).
• Ask the patient if the pain radiates anywhere.
• Get the patient to describe the pain, e.g. dull ache, sharp, throbbing or shooting.
• Is the pain intermittent or constant? How frequent is it?
• Onset – gradual or sudden?
• Is there anything that makes the pain better or worse?
• What treatments have the patient tried and were they effective?
• Is there a diurnal variation in the pain?
• Does the pain keep the patient awake at night or wake them from sleep?
• Is the pain-affected or initiated by hot or cold stimuli?
• Are there any associated symptoms such as swelling, numbness or pain elsewhere?

OUR PATIENT PORTAL USING OUR DENTAL SOFTWARE SYSTEM, IN WHICH PATIENTS CAN SUBMIT ALL MEDICAL FORMS AND NHS FORMS DIRECTLY TO YOUR RECORDS AT THE PRACTICE.

IN THE MEANTIME PLEASE PROVIDE A COPY OF ANY MEDICATION YOU MAY BE ON VIA EMAIL.

THE ABOVE INFORMATION CAN BE PROVIDED TO THE PRACTICE EMAIL AT surgery@hillsidedentalsurgery.co.uk while the portal is being set up

Please visit www.hillsidedentalsurgery.co.uk, for information relating to the new changes at Hillside Dental Clinic and procedures patients will need to follow in the future. Please also refer to the website for general Practice information

IMPORTANT NUMBERS. 02089650102/ 02036388146

We can respond to messages and emails out of hours. For this service an assessment and communication by email or WhatsApp messenger, the cost of 45.00 will include the assessment, advice email information and prescription where required

Prescriptions can be sent remotely to your local pharmacy directly. It is important to let us know if you are happy to pay and we can take card payment over the phone.

We also sell products from the clinic. We sell high strength fluoride paste, duraphat that cannot be bought at the chemist 5.00 and also peroxide mouthwash, peroxyl, 6.00. Peroxide is effective for mouth ulcers and lesions and bleeding gums and also wisdom teeth problems. Peroxide is also undergoing research in its effectiveness against coronavirus.

ONCE AGAIN YOUR PATIENCE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME. HELP US TO HELP YOU TO WORK TOGETHER DURING THESE TESTING TIMES SO WE CAN ACHIEVE OUR GOALS.

Sincerely,

Dentist and Team

Please see below useful tools and information for Patient use