Welcome Back Post-COVID 19

Posted on the 3rd of June 2020 in General News

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

Our practice will be opening on that day, but we just wanted to be clear that this may not be business as usual. Due to the way the Coronavirus is transmitted, the treatments you are offered may be different to those you received before. It will take some time before services return to what you previously experienced as normal.

Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, our commitment to your safety and provision of high-quality preventative dentistry have remained the same.

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 is both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you that the infection control procedures we follow in our practice are to keep patients and staff safe.

PURE Dental York follows best practice infection control guidelines made by our governing bodies. These are regularly scrutinised and audited as part of the Denplan Excel Quality Assurance scheme. We are up to date on new guidance that has been issued since the Coronavirus pandemic, so you may see a few changes on your next visit. We are doing this in order to reduce transmission of coronavirus and because of the very different way this virus behaves to more familiar infections. We have done our research on this new virus in order to ensure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to best practice recommendations.

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

• We will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You will be asked those same questions again at your
• We will ask you to wait outside (in the porch if it is raining) or in the car and call us from your mobile phone when you arrive.
• When the dentist or therapist/hygienist is ready to see you, a team member will be there to greet you at the door. You will be asked to use the available hand sanitiser when you enter the practice and your temperature will be taken. The team member will then escort you directly into the surgery.
• Appointment times will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. We are increasing our clinic hours to allow for this, but it might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your
• Where appropriate, we may offer you a telephone or video consultation.

So that we can observe physical (social) distancing and reduce further the chance of the virus spreading to the wider community, the front door will be kept locked and visits will be by appointment only. If you have any queries or require any oral hygiene aids, then you can telephone or email the practice and we can arrange a mutually suitable time for you to collect these.

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:

• With the exception of 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 of coronavirus following appointment booking, you should contact the practice by phone
• Please do not arrive without an appointment
• Patients should come wearing a mask or face covering if possible or be prepared to wear one if advised.

We will send out all relevant information to you in advance of your next appointment.