Welcome to your

Shirley Road Dental Surgery

.....caring for your smile.....

Dear patients,

We have reopened our dental surgery for patients who require essential emergency dental treatment. The appointments will be extended to other patient groups as the lockdown restrictions are eased further.

Dental appointments have to be booked in advance contacting our reception via telephone : 02380 22 44 01

Currently it is not allowed for patients to walk into our dental surgery to make enqueries!

Provisional timetable

We will initially be seeing:

• Patients with emergency problems or other dental problems that require urgent assessment and treatment

When the lockdown restrictions are further lifted we will be able to see:

• Patients with treatment that was not completed prior to the lockdown
• Patients who were due for routine examinations and treatment visits during the period of closure

We greatly appreciate your assistance with any new or modified procedures at the practice

Patient communication during SARS-COV-19 thread level 4 and 3

Right now all routine appointments already booked till the end of June will be cancelled. We will be seeing emergency patients and confirming appointments ahead of their scheduled time.

We will request that all patients who are attending the practice update their medical history forms beforehand. The assessment forms include a new section which will allow us to assess your level of risk for coronavirus infection before you attend the surgery

SARS-COV-19 thread level 5-2 requirement

Please either download / print / fill out the forms for medical history and SARS-COV-19 assessment or during your telephone conversation for an appointment - answering the questionaire with the receptionist - in advance of your appoinment. Without the filled out forms we can not provide dental treatment!

These forms can be downloaded from our webpage.

This photo gallery visualises the current patient welcome procedure, explained in the following text

Please do not enter the surgery without having contacted the reception via the intercom!

New measures to reduce the risk of Covid19 transmission

Our normal cross-infection control protocols (against all previously known pathogens) 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 environment compared to public areas and there is no evidence of COVID-19 transmission occurring in increased rates in dentists or their staff. We have collectively evaluated all of the updated guidance and observed what measures have been put in place in other countries. We feel that the measures which are outlined in this policy will reduce risk to the minimum level at the practice. Please be assured that all of our clinical staff will also be complying with our updated procedures to reduce the risk of cross infection in both directions.

Before attending at the practice

We will carry out a pre-attendance assessment via your completed Medical history/Assessment forms before your appointment and, if necessary, a follow-up telephone conversation to assess relative coronavirus infection risk. Our staff will evaluate these before starting dental treatment. If you have any difficulties with completing the forms we can help you with this over the phone. A dentist may also carry out a telephone consultation with you to assess your dental problem prior to your visit so that a treatment plan and cost estimate can be sent to you.

If we feel that you are at risk of having possibly been infected, even if you are asymptomatic, we will respectfully request for you to delay booking any appointments with us for at least 2 weeks to a month.

We recommend that patients in the high-risk groups for developing complications from coronavirus delay non-essential dental treatment for as long as possible until the trend of the pandemic becomes clear. If you are in a high risk group and do require treatment we will schedule your appointment at the beginning of the day. To find out whether you are in a high or very high-risk group please see the gov.uk website.

When travelling to the practice, we would recommend that you limit close contact with other members of the public as far as possible. The doors will be locked during this phase of return (covid threat level 4). Please make yourself known at the door intercom situated to the left of the door or call from your phone as soon you are at the door. We will meet all patients at the door and bring them straight into the surgery. One adult is able to attend with a child; please do not bring additional family members with you unless they are happy to wait in the car or outside the building.Please try to attend at your appointment time as to ensure social distancing we may not be able to let you into the building if you are early.

Arriving at the practice

When you attend the practice, we will welcome you, and ask for you to hang your coat or jacket near the entrance to the practice. Although the front door will remain locked, we cannot accept liability for personal items so please limit what you bring into the building.

We will take your temperature with a no-touch thermometer. If your temperature is above 37.8°C, you will be unable to enter the practice and will be asked to return home and self-isolate as per current government guidelines.

We intend to eliminate waiting inside the practice and at reception. Accordingly, appointments will be staggered so that patients do not arrive or leave at the same time as other patients as far as we are able to manage.

When using the restrooms, please do your best to ensure that you leave the facilities as you would expect to find them and wash your hands thoroughly. The restrooms will be regularly disinfected between patients Please let the staff know if you have used the facilities.

If you are well, we will direct you straight to the surgery and request that you do the following before or during your appointment:

• Use the hand sanitiser in the reception area

• We may ask you to use a Hydrogen Peroxide mouthwash before some dental treatments are provided.

Practice procedures

Our dental team has spent time critically looking at every aspect of the practice with a view to removing all non-essential items that can potentially be the cause of infection.

You will find that the practice may appear to be quite bare when you attend.

There will be protective screens around the reception area. All clinical and common areas including door handles and surfaces will be regularly disinfected in addition to our normal surface cleaning protocols between patients.

There will be a buffer period between patients to allow additional time for additional decontamination procedures, allow for any treatment overruns and allow preparation time for the next patient so that they do not need to wait in the reception area.

Our dental surgery will be operating a “no cash” payment system going forward, and we will request that all payments are made using debit/credit cards.

This means there will be fewer appointments available on any given day. Compared to our usual numbers we estimate, that it will now be close to a third of that…

The science behind the PPE

We are especially mindful that many dental treatments are aerosol-generating procedures (AGP’s). 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 dental literature suggests:

The use of our normal high-volume suction (the tube that the dental nurse hoovers around your mouth) reduces aerosol production by over 90%.

The use of dental rubber sheet 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 filter 94% and 99% respectively.

We therefore feel that our normal dental procedures can be carried out with minimal risk by the use of high-volume suction, rubber dam, surgical and FFP2 masks and, in aerosol generating procedures FFP3 masks as appropriate

Covid19 thread level 4 and 3 reopening policy

This policy has been created based on multiple updated sources from within the dental and medical professions and the government. It outlines modifications to our normal procedures that we intend to employ once the practice can be reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic peak has subsided.

It is not known at this time whether these procedures are temporary or whether they will become a permanent feature of the way dental practices must be run to ensure patient and staff safety in the future.The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is still being evaluated and studied and policies and recommendations are likely to change in line with new scientific evidence over time. We will of course be providing dental care to all of our patients in the safest possible environment.

We would like to thank all of our patients for their patience and forbearance during the period of temporary practice closure and for their understanding and cooperation whilst we implement new measures at the practice.

Summary:

The vast majority of our patients are otherwise healthy without coronavirus infection and we are confident that we are able to provide dental care for these patients in as normal an environment as possible while bearing in mind our responsibilities to mitigate risks of infection spread as far as is practically possible.

This policy will be constantly reviewed and updated as necessitated by circumstances over time.

If you have any questions regarding this policy or about your dental care at Shirley Road Dental Practice please do not hesitate to contact us on: 023 8022 4401

Our dental surgery team is dedicated to offer you excellent dental care for an affordable price

This independent private dental practice in Shirley Road, Southampton has been established for over 50 years and under the present ownership for nearly 30 years.

The team caring for your smile consists of 4 dentists, 2 receptionists and 3 dental nurses. The treatment we provide is orientated to prevent oral and dental disease and we carry out nearly all types of general dentistry.

You can browse in the following pages the wide range of treatment options we can offer and information about ourself. We have added some oral hygiene and dental charity links. Please use the buttons on the top of this homepage for your navigation.

J. Pullen
B.Ch.D, D.P.D.S.