As many of you may be aware the Scottish Government has announced that NHS Dental Services have been reopened from 2nd November. We all welcome the news that dentists are now able to provide the full range of treatments but unfortunately this does NOT yet mean a return to business as usual. Guidance from the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland expects all dental practices to be operating at around 20% of Pre-COVID levels. The need to maintain social distancing and the fact that many of our procedures require the surgeries to be deep cleaned before they can be used again severely limits the numbers of patients that can be seen in the practice.
We are acutely aware that there is a huge backlog of patients requiring treatment. However, we also need to reserve some of our limited appointments for patients requiring urgent care such as trauma, swellings and severe pain. NHS Scotland expects all practices to prioritise our patients based on their oral health needs. None the less we hope to commence the process of contacting patients with outstanding treatments over the course of the next few weeks.
Because of these factors, we are not yet in a position to resume routine examination appointments. While the current circumstances prevail it is likely to be into next year before we could be in a position to do check ups.
Our Dental Hygienist Jillian Cooper has resumed patient treatments and appointments are available. There are still some restrictions that Jillian has to work under but if you require an appointment with her please call the practice.
We are aware that with these changes the practice telephones are likely to be very busy. Please be assured all our staff are working very hard in these challenging circumstances on your behalf. When speaking with our staff we ask that everyone remains respectful.
We thank all our patients for your patience over the last 7 months but we would emphasise that the current backlog will not clear overnight. We would encourage any patient in pain, swelling or with an acute dental problem to call the practice at once and we shall try our very best to manage it.
Thank you all for your understanding.