06/12/2022
RE: Resumption of dental services in England
The goal for patients and professionals is to resume the safe and effective provision of the full range of care in all practices, as rapidly as practicable.
In developing this approach, we recognise:
• clear safety standards, including personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection prevention and control (IPC) protocols are required to safely deliver dental care, as recommended by Public Health England (PHE)
New Update
We are now “back to normal” after all the delays caused by COVID-19. However, there are still delays to check-ups as we started with a backlog of 2 years (all 26,000 patients). Thank you for your patience
Those patients who do have a suspected respiratory infection (anything from a cold to COVID-19) must delay their appointment unless it is urgent.
We started to reintroduce check-ups in July 2021 at a reduced capacity, but we are currently over run with patients and treatments are booked up to 2 months in advance. Check-ups are currently in place for the whole of 2023.
The practice policies still apply and it is the patients responsibility to ensure they are still registered. Click here for practice policies
As per the government directions we are prioritising appointments in this order: Emergencies (people in pain), treatments, at risk groups (perio disease, children etc) and lastly check-ups.
We have been working in partnership with NHS England as an Urgent Dental Centre for our area and this will continue to do so. Any of our own patients requiring urgent dental treatment may still contact us as usual (preferably by email to request a call back from a dentist). reception@bsdp.co.uk
Whilst you wait for an appointment, we have articles on oral hygiene and handy tips on our website you can read here.
The Emergency Dental Services number for non-registered patients is
0300 1234 010
It is ultimately the patients responsibility to book an appointment. Our best efforts have been made to move patients appointments to later in the year, so that you remain registered. Any patient who does not attend the practice within a 2 year period for a check-up will be de-registered. Click here for our practice policies
Children will never be de-registered, however, as adults you have a reponsibility to look atfer your own health and book regular check-ups.
We are still allowing patients who missed checkups due to COVID-19 to remain registered I.e. if your last appointment was after 20.03.2018 then you will remain registered.
As of 20.03.2024 (6 year grace period) our original policy will come back into force and you must have attended the practice within a 2 year period
If your last check-up was before 20.03.2018, then this means you have already been de-registered, before COVID-19 started 2 years later. You can call 0300 1234 010 if you are in pain.