Dear Patient

We hope this letter finds you and your family in the best of health.

The Chief Dental Officer & Department of Health have now stated that dental practices across England can resume the provision of dental care. We are now continuing our routine orthodontic treatment care in the practice. We will therefore be contacting you in due course to arrange this. Whilst many things have changed, we want to reassure you that we remain committed to your safety. We have always maintained the highest standards of infection-control at Petts Wood Orthodontics, but we would like to inform you of some changes that we will need to implement in order to minimise any risk to you, your families and to our staff. When you do return:

• Please enter the practice a few minutes before your appointment time, so we can maintain social distancing between patients;

• You will be sent a pre-screening questionnaire to complete and return by email or someone from the practice will call you to answer a few questions 24 hours prior to your appointment;

• Upon arrival the patient’s temperature will be taken. Patients with temperatures above 37.8˚C will be rescheduled. Please do not take any paracetamol prior to the appointment as this makes the readings inaccurate;

• Only the patient will be allowed into the practice (please contact us on 01689 871714 if you have any reasons why you need to attend with your child);

• Patients will be asked to clean their hands for 20 seconds upon entering the practice;

• You must maintain social distancing whilst in the waiting areas;

• The waiting area will not have magazines, toys or games as these are difficult to disinfect;

• We will do our best to allow more time between patients to reduce any waiting time and the traffic of people in the practice; and

• Following your appointment we would ask you to telephone the practice to arrange your next one. We will not be making follow up appointments on the day to reduce the number of patients in the waiting room.
  Due to these guidelines, we will be seeing fewer patients per day, so please be patient with us. We obviously have a lot of patients to see and we will try to prioritise those most in need.

• We will always wear a mask, a face shield and a disposable gown or apron; and

• All team members will be health-screened before their shift.

Unfortunately, the virus is still a threat. However, we have always used universal precautions and we will continue to do so.

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Best Wishes

Petts Wood Orthodontics