COVID-19 Information Update

Dear Valued Patients,

We hope this message finds you in good health and spirits. We have all been through a lot over the last few months and we are all looking for a return to some form of normality.

A lot has changed in our world, and throughout all of this Landmark Dental’s commitment to the safety of its staff, patients and the wider community remains of paramount importance.

We are now looking forward to reopening – we don’t have a date – but preparing!

Our practice has always been focused on infection control, and in addition to what we have always done, we are augmenting our protocols to ensure our response to Covid-19 is both comprehensive and meticulous.

Over the past few weeks, we have been working diligently to enhance our facility and procedures to provide the safe and exceptional care our patients should be accustomed to.

Life at the practice will look different. Here are a few of the measures we will be implementing:

  • We will be modifying our scheduling and minimising the number of people in our practice at any one time. We ask that patients attend alone and not to bring companions to their appointment, except for instances where the patient requires assistance (e.g. children, elderly patients, those with special needs)
  • If you wish to, you may wait in your car or outside the dental practice where we can contact you by mobile phone when it is your turn to be seen.
  • We can try and conduct a portion of your check up from the comfort of your own home using Zoom (video conferencing) in order to minimise your time in the dental practice.
  • Consent forms and payment can now happen via email or telephone, thereby minimizing any contact within our practice.
  • We will be asking all of our team members and patients to take their temperatures the night before and morning of their arrival to our practice. There will be further screening at check-in (temperature).
  • Hand sanitizer has always and will continue to be readily available. All patients will be asked to wear a mask until they are seated in the surgery.
  • All treatment plans and financial conversations will be done in the sanitised operatory or via video-conferencing.
  • All common areas including the front desk with be sanitised every hour. We will be utilising a fogger with hypochlorous acid.
  • We have upgraded our personal protective equipment for our team. Our reception team will be wearing masks and gloves. Our clinical team members will be wearing gowns, fit-tested respiratory masks (N95) and face shields during aerosol generating procedures.
  • We will be reducing aerosol production as much as possible through use of hand instrumentation and employment of dental dam and high speed suction. We use rubber dam for root canal procedures and we will continue to use this for restorative dental procedures where possible.
  • We have installed air ventilation systems to increase the number of air changes within the room to improve the air quality and remove noxious air.

Please be assured we are continually improving our standards to ensure we provide a positive and safe experience for all those involved.

If you have any questions regarding any of the above, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Excited to see you again soon.

With Best Wishes,

Amit, Raj and all the team.

Good NIGHTingale…

With the current situation the world has found itself in, everyone has had to make adjustments. Changes to their routine that might change their whole future. Families finding innovative ways to connect, grandparents becoming experts in video calling and our children using technology to work from home.

All the while this is happening we are all wondering how long this will last and what will become the new ‘norm.’

As dentists, we have had to completely change things in terms of our practice. We have had to shut our doors and let go of our teams. We had to cease all routine dental care and provide telephone triage.

I don’t really like to use analgesics and antibiotics as a form of treatment, but we had to change the norm to protect ourselves and our communities.

For the last few weeks I have been proud to have volunteered at the Nightingale Hospital in London to help with the fight against Covid-19, and more importantly to stand together with every type of healthcare professional.

You read about it, hear the huge achievements in building a hospital in less than two weeks only five weeks ago, and also the criticisms of not having treated many patients (which can only be good news for us all!)

The last couple of times I was here were for the Marathon Expo in 2017 with my family for the Aga Khan’s Diamond Jubillee last year and to see it converted to a 200 bed hospital with the potential to expand further. Unbelievable!

It is not like any other hospital I have worked in before. I’ve met some amazing people; scientists, students, cleaners, physiotherapists, consultants and professors but not one person gives a sense of superiority or seniority. In fact its hard to tell who’s who under all the PPE. A flat hierarchy empowering all and a wellbeing focus.

You make friends all with similar ideas, thoughts and compassion as you. Don’t get me wrong. This is no stroll in the park. It was a raw and intense framework put together in the matter of weeks but constantly evolving. The reason we were there was nothing to smile about but yet the smiles at the start of a shift match the smiles at the end, just with a less than enthiusiastic walking speed down the long corridors of the Excel.

The security guards outside telling you to have a good shift. Walking through the doors to be greeted by smiling faces of volunteers who put you at ease with a simple ‘hello’. A few weeks ago I couldn’t tell what the readings on a ventilator or a monitor meant, or how a volumetric pump worked but after a couple of 13 hour shifts with the most amazing critical care team you find yourself becoming pretty proficient, with taking blood gases, preparing drugs, turning patients and even changing bed linen.

We have now past the peak of the spread of the virus, thanks to the detemination and sacrifice of people in following the expert advice to stay at home, and the hospital will now be placed on standby, once the last of its patients leave.

I will now look forward to going back to work in the comfort of my dental practice where we chat about family, the weather and the next holiday, putting in place measures to ensure the safety of our patients and staff.

I have had a lot to learn from all this. One thing is for sure it has changed me. One way or another, I will strive to be a better person after all of this.

by Raj