Advice for patients during the pandemic

The whole team at The Wimbledon Dentist are working hard to ensure that your visit to the dental practice will be a pleasant, effective, and most importantly a safe experience. Many of the procedures and protocols that were routinely part of safe delivery of dental care are already well developed and practiced at The Wimbledon Dentist. With the COVID19 pandemic we have upgraded many of these routines to ensure that we are offering you the latest in safe dental environments. The risk of virus particle contamination is managed carefully in all areas of the practice.

We are keen to prepare our clinic prior to your visit as much as possible in order to limit the time you spend in the practice and to allow us to manage your dental problem efficiently and effectively while you are with us. We will endeavour to manage as much pre-visit admin and consultation with you over the phone and by email to streamline your actual onsite visit.

Please look at the following The Wimbledon Dentist guidance that will help us look after you during your visit.

• If you are unwell for any reason it is better to not come to the Dental Practice. If you suspect you have symptoms of COVID 19 please stay at home and follow NHS guidance.
• Please prepare your-self at home to have freshly scrubbed teeth using your usual oral hygiene measures. We want to avoid a last minute clean up in The Wimbledon Dentist facilities please!
• Please remember to have done your paperwork, such as the new Medical History Questionnaire and the Covid Questionnaire, and read through the consent forms, and signed any Treatment Plans that we issued too.
• Please remember to bring your plastic payment card. You will have to pay before entering the treatment room if you are having an Aerosol-Generating Procedure.
• Our Waiting Room is limited to 3 patients at a time to allow social distancing. If you arrive by car, please be ready to wait in your car until called in by your dentist.
• Please do not bring anyone with you into the building if this can be avoided. One parent must accompany children, but please plan to keep siblings and other family and friends out of the building.
• Please try to arrive cool and calm. Please don’t run or race your bike to your appointment as your body temperature will be raised and you would appear feverish.
• Please have visited the bathroom prior to you arriving at the practice as the facilities will not be available during your visit.
• You will be then asked to use hand gel rub at reception.
• You will be asked to pay for your prescribed treatment then, before proceeding to the surgery room. We cannot accept anything other than a card payment at this time I’m afraid.
• Many of us looking after you will also be wearing various levels of PPE but we are all likely to be wearing a mask as we greet you. This is because we will be closer than 2m
• We will ask you to place your belongings in a box outside the door of the clinical room that you will be seen in. These must stay here until you are leaving. Please being as few items as you can.
• We will invite you into the dental surgery that will have been prepared to you to be a safe environment. Your dentist and dental nurse will be wearing PPE with some extra layers being used as we start to do our dentistry for you.
• Your dental appointment will be as normal except that the room may be cool for you as we have fresh air and filtered air circulating in the room. Please come prepared to keep yourself warm with an extra layer and covered legs.
• The air filters add a bit of background noise to the room and your dentists and nurse will sound a bit funny speaking in their masks!
• At the end of your procedure you can have the usual mouthwash but with the minimum of splutter please.
• Often treatment plans will be presented by email or in the post with discussion and scheduling done by phone in order to keep our building as socially distanced as possible during the working day.
• All your treatments will be planned carefully and will be managed in a cool calm and COVID19 safe environment. There will be extra expense related to PPE and extended appointment times for most treatments. Your up to date treatment plan will have these costs detailed within it.
• At The Wimbledon Dentist we are determined that your experiences under our care continue to be effective reassuring and confidence building while we offer you detailed attention as comfortably and safely as possible.
• Many thanks for working with us as we manage your dentistry in these tricky times.

What changes to expect during the pandemic

• We offer hygienist services on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
• Please email us rather than call about your appointment. As you have seen above, you cannot "drop in" yet. Emilija, Justyna and Aoife are operating phone triage consultations on the phone lines most of the day and we then appoint via emails. This is how it must be for now.
• We are open 6 days a week again!
• We are trying to make it 7 by adding Sunday appointments. Please feel free to let us know if this is something you would be interested in in the near future.
• Due to the necessary phone triaging in Alert Level 4, and the multiple new forms, we will take a little longer to reply to your emails. We are sorry!
• Owing to the way we are dressed now, with much layers of PPE, we gently suggest you do not bring in children at present.

A word about PPE...

Please click below to read about PPE at the Wimbledon Dentist