Carrying on with the “New normal” at barker dental care

We are really pleased that with a lot of effort and hard work we now have everything in place so that we can resume a more normal level of service at Barker Dental Care. As you will probably be aware, the new dental industry guidelines for providing dental care require a very different way of working than what we did pre-COVID19. However, thanks to our full compliance with these new guidelines as well as significant additional investment, we feel very confident in our ability to provide you with your dental care in a very safe environment.

As part of the new dental guidelines, when a dentist provides treatment that produces aerosol there is a significant amount of additional personal protective equipment that the dentist and dental nurse must wear. The level of PPE required for aerosol generating procedures (e.g. any treatment that uses a dental drill, ultrasonic cleaning, etc.) is very similar to that currently worn by doctors and nurses in hospital intensive care units. As well as the additional PPE, whenever we provide an aerosol generating treatment for a patient, the surgery must also be vacated and left unused for period of time which can be up to one hour. Obviously, these new requirements to our way of working will inhibit the number of patients that we can see each day. However with careful management of our appointment diaries, we will strive to alleviate the impact as much as possible.

Over the lockdown period, we have taken lots of calls from our patients who had a dental concern or emergency. Since re-opening, our top priority has been to contact all of these patients to resolve their dental issues. Over the coming weeks, we will also be contacting all of our patients to re-schedule any appointments that were cancelled due to the government lockdown. We will work very hard to get these appointments re-scheduled as soon as we possibly can, but we hope that our patients will understand the difficulties involved in managing three months of lost clinic time. If you have an urgent dental matter or any questions, please give us a call.

As a part of our new procedures, prior to your appointment we will be e-mailing you information and a risk assessment questionnaire which we need you to print, fill in, and bring with you to your appointment. If you have not provided us with your e-mail address, we ask that you give us a call so that we can update your records. It is very important that you complete the form ahead of your scheduled appointment with us.

We look forward to seeing all of our patients at the practice again and greatly appreciate our patients’ loyalty and patience during this unusual time.