Facial aesthetics Broxburn
Our new dentist Hayley McCall has a special interest in facial aesthetics and is offering Anti wrinkle treatments and lip fillers. Please call the practice on
01506 853585 to book an appointment
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NOVEMBER DENTAL SERVICES UPDATE
NOVEMBER UPDATE OF DENTAL SERVICES
From 1st Nov we will be resuming some dental treatments that have been previously withdrawn as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic.
However as the Scottish Govt and the Director of Dentistry for NHS Lothian have indicated this is NOT a return to normal service.
Currently due to coronavirus restrictions we will be operating at around 20% capacity.
We are still extremely limited to how many patients we can see each day (NHS has provided us with enough PPE for 10 patients per dentist a day maximum) and our dentists are on shorter weeks to allow social distancing and fallow time in the surgeries.
Given the limited appointments available , priority will remain as it has done throughout the pandemic to providing emergency care.
Of the limited other appointments we have available we will now be able to work through our extensive 8 month backlog of treatments that remain outstanding.
It is going to take us a considerable amount of time to clear our waiting lists and your patience is much appreciated.
Please do not call us for routine exams and treatments just now.
We will have to clear our backlog first.
We will be contacting those who had appointments cancelled since March in chronological order and in order of priority of dental need.
So while this is a small step forward to a return to normality it is a long way from business as usual.
We hope you and your families are keeping well as we enter this second phase of coronavirus with new restrictions placed on our daily lives.
covid 19 update 28/10/20
Please see below a letter to all patients from the Director of Dentistry at NHS Lothian
To
Patients registered with NHS dental practices
Dear patient,
Angus Walls, Director
Edinburgh Dental Institute 4th Floor Lauriston Building
Lauriston Place Edinburgh EH3 9HA
+44 (0)131 536 4975
angus.walls@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
You will be well aware of the impact that the risk of COVID-19 has had on every aspect of what was ‘normal’ life, particularly in the central belt. As you know the provision of routine dental care has also been affected, with the Chief Dental Officer closing all the NHS dental practices in Scotland, when Lockdown was imposed in March of this year. This step was taken in part to support social distancing by reducing the close contact between patients and dentists in a practice and in part because when you dentist provides treatment for you the drills and cleaning tools used create a fine mist of a mix of water and your saliva. This fine mist or aerosol could pose a risk in terms of transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19
Since then, everyone in your dental practice has worked incredibly hard to design processes and procedures to ensure that anyone who enters, patient or staff, is kept safe. As a result, when the First Minister announced during the summer that dental practices could open their doors to treat patients with emergencies as the first part of the Phased recovery, your practice was one of the first in the country to open.
These safety processes have been tried and tested, and shown to be safe and there has been a gradual increase in the range of NHS dental care available, but this has had to be carefully planned nationally, in order to ensure everyone’s safety.
This confidence in the safety of dentistry has allowed the Scottish Government to announce that from the beginning of November, dentists can deliver the full range of care that was available under the NHS prior to lock-down. This news is really welcome news for us all as your dentist can now “finish the job” that has been started by managing urgent care needs.
However, whilst the full range of care CAN now be delivered there are additional complexities that have come to the fore as a result of the last 8-months.
Firstly, and most importantly, safety for you as a patient and for the dental team needs to be maintained so social distancing, allowing any mist in the surgery to settle, and the thorough cleaning of surfaces, all takes a significant amount of time. This means that the time when the dental surgery can’t be used between appointments will be longer to support safe practice, resulting in fewer appointments being available in the normal working day.
Secondly, eight months of routine dental care has not been delivered between March and October, resulting in a substantial backlog of care that is required. The delivery of care by your dentist will have to be prioritised to ensure that people with pain or have the potential to lose a tooth are treated first and procedures that are desirable but have a lesser priority
in terms of the practice as a whole may need to be delayed until the backlog has been managed and this will take a substantial amount of time with the current restrictions.
Covid-19 has disrupted nearly all aspects of life and it looks like it will do for some months to come. This means that in dentistry, like every other aspect of healthcare in the NHS, appointments may take months to be available and a return to “normal service” will undertake a considerable time. As a result I must ask to be patient as we endeavour to re- establish your dental care. Please be reassured that, your dentist and NHS Lothian have your health at the centre of their thoughts, and is striving to deliver your dental care as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully
Angus Walls
Director of Dentistry NHS Lothian
covid 19 october update
Covid 19 update 14th October
Following the announcement in the press and social media on Monday 12th October regarding the resuming of NHS Dental Care in Scottish Dental Practices, with special reference to the STV news announcement, we wish to clarify and explain the announcement and guidance.
The Scottish government announced that the full range of NHS services would be returning to Scottish Dental Practices on the 1st November.
As per previous announcements, with regards to the reintroduction of NHS services, Dentists sadly found this out first through the public social media feeds and press announcements, rather than through our professional and regulatory bodies before the announcements.
In fact, we were finally advised of the fact there would be a return towards NHS services in practice on the 1st November a day AFTER the public announcement by way of a letter from the Chief Dental Officer.
We expect you as a patient, and us as a dental team have numerous questions as to how, when and to what extent NHS services will resume.
There is, as yet, no guidance at all as to what specific services will be allowed, or in what way they will be phased back, however, we expect further updates over the next few weeks as to how we can start reintroducing NHS services.
We had, until Monday, been advised NHS services would not return to practice until the transmission rate was reduced, and that there would be an adequate supply of PPE provided by NHS to treat our NHS patients. There would be a gradual phased approach to NHS services, however, NHS Dentistry would not return to the level it was pre-lockdown.
The public health minister, Mr Fitzpatrick, has announced there will be a return of a FULL SERVICE of NHS dentistry, however, our Chief Dental Officer has advised, after the press release, that it is ‘not business as usual’, quoting from his letter on the 12th October.
Our British Dental Association has responded;
‘’Despite the re-opening, Mr Fitzpatrick said the sector will not return to “business as usual” as practices still need to limit the number of patients, they see due to the ongoing spread of the virus.
But by making available a full range of treatments for NHS patients, dentists and dental teams will be able to provide a wider range of NHS care, prioritised by clinical judgment and in line with wider public health protection measures.’’
We therefore have to await guidance from our professional bodies as to how we can reintroduce NHS services, how we can provide this care, and how Scottish dentists can reintroduce the NHS services is still to be seen. However it is clear we will still be limited in the number of NHS patients we can see daily.
On average, our Dentists pre-lockdown would each have seen on 30-40 patients per day, with in excess of 100 patients per day coming through our doors.
Currently, with social distancing measures, and fallow time, most dentists will be averaging 10-15 patients per day for non aerosol generating treatment, of that only around 4 patients able to be seen for treatment that requires the use of an aerosol (drill/scaler).
How we will be expected to return to previous levels of NHS patient numbers, provide the care our patients deserve and the team are passionate to provide, ensure social distancing measures, ensure the priority of patient and staff safety, and still keep the practices financially viable, we are still to be informed.
Until we receive more information from the government on how this NHS care is to be provided unfortunately we will not be able to make appointments. When we are able to make these appointments we will update you again.
At this time to maintain our own social distancing in practice our staff are dealing with a high volume of patients calling to make appointments that as explained above we cannot do at this time.
We appreciate your patience in allowing us and all other NHS practices in Scotland to get the answers to how we can provide sustainable and safe dental care to our patients.
Best wishes,
Broxburn Dental Practice
covid 19 update
Covid 19 update 21/08/20
Dear Patients
Following further Scottish Govt advice we have now moved into the next stage of reopening and although this is another step forward we are still very limited in the services that we are permitted to provide.
We will be answering calls, offering advice and where appropriate patients with pain or a dental emergency will be triaged and booked an emergency appointment.
Emergency appointments in most cases will be for a temporary measure and not for routine treatment.
You may have heard that from 17th August dentists are allowed to do AGPs again (use our drills).
However despite the impression some media outlets have given this is not business as usual.
Like you, we are keen to get back to seeing all our patients in the practice for their routine and continued dental care but unfortunately at this stage, it is still not possible.
Currently,we are awaiting delivery of appropriate PPE and initially only 1 of our dentists and 1 nurse will be fitted with this.
We are still extremely restricted to the number of patients we are allowed to see and it is still urgent care only.
We are sure you will appreciate that things for us are far from normal.
We will, of course, update you again when we have further guidance from the NHS and Chief Dental Officer but thank you again for your continued support, patience and understanding.
Thank you
Broxburn Dental Practice
covid 19 latest update
Dear Patients
We hope you and your families are well during these testing times. We wish to update you on the current situation facing all Scottish dental practices that provide NHS services.
The Scottish Government (SG) announced it will allow dental practices with registered NHS patients to provide “ routine “ dental care from 13th of July 2020. However SG have forbidden the use of Aerosol Generating Procedures (AGP) on NHS patients within the practice.
This is any treatment involving air and / or water – 95% of what we do involves aerosols.
A routine check up requires use of aerosols to enable us to dry your teeth and adequately inspect them and to plan your treatment properly.
Regrettably this means we will not be booking any routine check up appointments just now. If you have any concerns about the soft tissues of your mouth we can get you in to have this checked.
Subsequently the only effective non aerosol treatments we can provide are extractions and patch ups for teeth. We may also be able to recement crowns in some circumstances.
If you require an aerosol procedure such as a simple filling we will have to refer you to an NHS Dental Hub. Currently the nearest is in Edinburgh.
The practice will continue to be available to see patients for urgent care only with a maximum of 10 patients a day.
This might not be with your usual dentist as we are working on a daily rota.
We are as frustrated as all of you by the current restrictions placed on us and appreciate your tremendous patience you are showing during this time.
We will keep you updated with current guidelines and hopefully will have some good news soon.
Many Thanks
Broxburn Dental Practice Team
Ps can we ask you to share this post to update as many patients as possible
COVID-19 UPDATE
Text content
COVID -19 UPDATE
Dear Patient
We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health.
You may have heard today from the First Minister that Scottish NHS Dental Practices can open for urgent care from next week.
Our practice will be opening very soon but we just wanted to be clear that this will not be business as usual. The treatments you are offered will be different to those you received before. It will take some time before services return to what you previously experienced as normal. Please be patient.
We have been told to see no more than 10 patients per day just now between all the dentists at the Practice.
To put this into perspective on a busy pre covid 19 day we would expect to see over 90 patients per day!
We also still cannot use our equipment that generates aerosol ( drill and air line ) so treatment options are extremely limited.
We will only be able to offer routine extractions and possibly a temporary filling if no drilling or drying of the tooth is necessary which it usually is.
So please keep this in mind when you telephone the surgery most dental treatments involve using a drill and air drying the tooth and we are still not allowed to do this.
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, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.
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
- 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
We have already had hundreds of calls from patients desperately wanting dental treatment and asking for a priority appointment. This is not possible.
Please be patient.
We will do our best.
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
- 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 to the practice. If necessary, you should wait outside the practice
- Please do not arrive without an appointment.
Sincerely,
John Lorna Alina Colin and all the staff
6th June 2020 covid 19 update
COVID 19 update – 5th June 2020**
A message to all patients of Broxburn Dental Practice.
Since 24th of March 2020, all dental practices have been closed under the guidance of the Chief Dental Officer of Scotland (CDO) and the Scottish Government. During this time we have been providing an emergency telephone service to all our patients.
The team at Broxburn Dental Practice are all desperate to get back to helping our patients on a daily basis. However, for our patient’s safety, and to help minimise community spread of COVID 19, the CDO and Scottish Government has instructed all Scottish dental practices to remain closed.
We have been advised that when Scottish Dental practices do re-open it will be a staged approach. This will initially involve seeing patients for certain emergency treatments only. These will be non aerosol generating (AGP) procedures so treatment will be extremely limited. Some patients will still need to be referred to Urgent Dental Care Centres. We will then progress to routine dental care. We have not been given any specific timescales for this but will endeavour to keep you up to date.
The safety and well being of patients and staff has always been our top priority. We continue to invest in maintaining our high standards, high level of cross infection control and appropriate personal protective equipment. We will make all the necessary changes in line with COVID 19 Guidelines to ensure safety of all members of our dental team and patients when we do re-open our doors.
In the meantime, we will continue to offer our dental emergency call service between the hours of 9am- 6pm, Monday – Friday, on 01506 853585
For all emergencies after 6pm or over the weekend please contact NHS 24 by calling 111.
We appreciate the patience of all our patients though this difficult time and look forward to opening the doors when we are advised that it is safe for us to do so.
Stay safe and take care.
Team at Broxburn Dental Practice
covid-19 update
Covid19 Update – Surgery Closed
Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus and to ensure the safety of our clients and staff, we have closed the surgery. If you require emergency assistance, please call the surgery on 01506 853585