Headless Cross Dental Practice- Post Covid-19

We would like to thank all our patients for their patience and understanding at this very difficult time of extended practice closure. Headless Cross is following the policy as instructed by the British Dental Association (BDA) where all dental practices in the UK were instructed to stop face to face meetings with patients in late March. Although no date has yet been given when dental practices can re-open, we are hopeful that this may be sometime in June 2020 but the final decision depends on the advice from our Regulatory Public Bodies.

The team are therefore planning to return to work on 5th June. We will initially prepare the practice for reopening, working on updated procedures before patients return to the practice. It is envisaged that the practice will reopen for patient treatments commencing early to mid June.

Our patients with ongoing or delayed courses of treatment or who have suffered dental problems during closure will be prioritised in the first stages of opening. We will start to telephone patients in early June to organise your visits and we will be offering extended opening hours as required, for as long as necessary including weekend hours because it is likely that our restart will be slow and we will be limited on the number of patients per day.

What are we currently doing at Headless Cross?

We take safety and hygiene very seriously, and although it is not possible for us to control sources of infection outside the dental practice, we feel that our dental environment is much safer from infections than other public areas.

We have put together additional procedures and protocols to protect both our patients and our dental team and we believe going above and beyond the current guidelines.

Before your visit:

Our policy will be to give all our patients a courtesy call, the day before your visit, to check for any issues surrounding your general health and to check if you have any signs or symptoms of coughs, colds or respiratory infections. We will also ask questions on the well-being of anyone else living in close proximity to you. We will be scheduling your next appointments on the telephone, and asking for pre-payment of any treatment required. If you wish to purchase any oral hygiene products during your visit, contactless payments will be available.

During your visit:

You may notice that your appointment time is a little different than normal as we are staggering the arrival of our patients to adhere to the social distancing code. We will ask you to arrive 10 minutes before your appointment time and wait in your car and we will inform you via mobile phone when your appointment is ready.

Upon entering the Practice, your temperature will be checked to ensure that it is not above the normal limit of 37.8C. If it is, you will be advised to rebook your treatment and follow the government guidelines for self-isolation.

We will then ask you to use our disinfectant hand rub and when in the surgery to use an anti-viral mouthwash.

All of our dental team will look a little different as we now have upgraded personal protective equipment in line with current recommendations including FFP2 and FFP3 masks, visors and protective clothing. Although, this may look foreboding on first appearance, please be assured that we are still the same friendly team underneath!

During dental or hygiene procedures we will use rubber dam or Isolite to isolate your mouth to prevent contamination. Youtube videos of these techniques are available online.

Headless Cross Dental will also be providing additional time between patients, allowing for decontamination processes and to prevent our patients having to sit in the waiting room for any period.

As always, all surfaces including door handles, flushes in our washrooms, etc will be disinfected and wiped down on a regular basis using a product that is proven to be highly effective against Coronavirus, yet is not toxic to people This product has been used in the food industry for over 50 years and is not harmful to the environment.

To protect you and the team we have invested in very high specification air purification units namely Radic8 and DentAir. These keep the air clean and healthy for you and the team whilst in the treatment rooms and reception areas.

We are aware that the elderly and people with certain health problems are at higher risk. If you or a family member are vulnerable, we will be happy to discuss any concerns or requirements you may have when booking any appointments. Your well-being is our number one priority and we will spend as much time as needed to ensure that you are comfortable with our procedures and are not exposed to any additional risks.

We are shortly to release a video on Facebook and our website to show you your new patient journey and what to expect which we hope will be helpful and remove any worries or concerns that you may have.

Meantime, if you or a family member or a friend need dental care or advice please do not hesitate to call Simon on 07774862787 or Martin on 07984916567 or look at our website www.headlesscrossdental.co.uk

We look forward to welcoming you back into the Practice.

Stay safe.

Kind Regards,

Dr Simon Walker and Dr Martin Craven.