During the period when we were not allowed to open for face to face patient contact as directed by the Chief Dental Officer, we never closed our office and the practice was manned Monday through to Friday and out of hours as normal by the partners and associate. We were able to Triage and manage all the enquiries successfully and since then we have followed up and where necessary ensured those that needed urgent treatment have been attended to.
We are able and are continuing to do all necessary examinations, Hygienist/Therapist treatment and all clinically necessary treatment with your dentist including X-rays.
We are allocating longer periods for examinations, allowing us the time to ensure we are all safe and thus giving you the opportunity to relax and have the time to ask any questions.
We are very aware that we have many appointments still to be rescheduled. Please bear with us. We have yet to start recalling as normal as our diaries are very busy. The main reason for this is the lack of space due to the longer time we have to allow for AGP (Aerosol generated procedures) treatments. To keep everyone as safe as possible we must don level 3 PPE for all of these procedures, we have purchased more equipment to keep the fallow time to a minimum but once completed the surgery must have a full clean down and then we need to change out of our PPE. This is time consuming but we will continue in this way until we are advised otherwise.You may see some of the staff wearing hoods when an AGP is in process, do not be alarmed by this, they are more comfortable for long AGP sessions and some staff prefer them to the level 3 fit tested masks.
As with everything at present and especially anything medically related costs have rocketed. Due to this all we are adding a cost towards PPE for all patients that require AGP. We will keep you informed as to how this will affect any proposed treatments. This will be a contractual change for Denplan Care patients, this information will come from Denplan direct.Any Denplan queries, it will be very helpful if you can direct these via email to our manager via: cdp@freeuk.com.
When visiting the hygienist at the moment we are generally only offering hand-scaling and polishing. Those patients that have a condition that requires the use of the Ultrasonic (AGP) will be allocated in a session where the Hygienist can do this.
You may receive a call offering a late cancellation with the Hygienist and/or dentist for routine examination, we have been having an almost 100% response to these, this is helping take the pressure of a little. Thank you so much for your support whilst we continue to get back on track with appointments.
You will all have your appointment confirmed and if this is your first visit since we reopened in June then reception will ask you a few questions so we can ensure we have all the information we need before your arrival.
All patient households will have an email or the letter sent that explains everything you need to know from arrival until you leave the practice.
Our mobile – this has been added as an aid to enable you to call or text to let us know you have arrived, ready for your appointment. It would be really helpful that this is not used for any other purpose.
If you do call and cannot get through, please leave a message on our answer-machine, rest assured, reception will come back to you as soon as they are free to do so.
We have the NHS QR code for the test and trace. Please feel free to check-in when you arrive; there is a code on the front door and also one by the sanitation unit as you enter the front door on your left.
So, a big thank you from your team here at Cowplain Dental Practice, we are here, we are open and we are ready to continue to provide the best dentistry in a safe and welcoming environment.We cannot thank you all enough for your support, your calls, emails, letter’s and cards thanking us, it means so much.We look forward to seeing you all at your next appointment.
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