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Although it has been announced that routine treatment is permitted, we are still restricted by social distancing and our cleaning processes. We are currently waiting for further clarification from NHS Lothian, the Scottish government and the dental board to lift restrictions before we can book routine check ups and registration of new patients.

We will also have to continue to prioritise dental emergencies, which will restrict the number of check ups during emergencies we are able to provide.

At this time we kindly ask patients to not call in to book routine treatment, as this will put further stress on our admin team, who are working hard to triage every single emergency that calls in.

Thank you for your patience and hope we get more clarification soon. 

JULY 2021

We are pleased to hear that full NHS services are scheduled to be re-introduced, after an   
announcement by the public health minister Joe Fitzpatrick earlier today. We hope this news will be a step forward in the right direction.

All dentists in Scotland were also sent a letter from our chief dental officer Tom Ferris, confirming this later on after the announcement. However, the CDO’s letter did make us aware that we need to prioritise appointments for patients requiring urgent dental care and those at greatest risk of oral disease, and that this will not be business as usual.

We await further instruction from our health board to guide us in any future changes to the current setup. So far, we have not received any guidance from Lothian health board and ask everyone to be patient in waiting for changes.

RESPECT FOR OUR STAFF
For 99% of our patients who have been with us for many decades, almost all of you have been polite as usual and in no way are we directing the following points at the majority.
We are sad to have to clarify this, and in reality this information only applies to a small
handful of individuals, but in light of recent events, patients on and trying to get on our
13,500 long register should be made aware of the following:
1) Having consulted our defence union for legal advice, we have been advised that unless there is a medical reason which can be verified by your doctor, face masks are not negotiable.
They have a government mandate, is part of our practice policy, and is also on our SOP
(standard operating procedure) given by Lothian Health board. We have a duty to protect
our staff, and patients or guardians accompanying patients need to wear a face mask or risk having their appointment cancelled. Please respect our staff as we are all just following orders from the health board and Scottish government, and the use of face masks are
universally applied and not aimed at any individuals. As far as we are aware, the Scottish government are trying to create an exemption card for those who do not have to wear a face mask, but we will have to await further news on this matter.

2) Since March, we have had dozens of patients asking to be registered, and we are happy to take names and contact details. However as far as we know, we need to give patients a
check-up in order to officially register them, which are unavailable at the moment due to not being able to use our proper diagnostic tools without making a room unavailable for up to 2 hours (see previous posts on fallow time).

Patients who are unregistered and wish to do so, will be put on a waiting list, and can be given an appointment for toothache within 2-3 weeks for an emergency. 
This does not mean that unregistered patients can show up to our door, aggressively
demand an appointment and be reminded to read our own website. Those individuals who have toothache and are not registered with us, will need to call NHS 24 (dial 111) to be seen urgently. We have a list of 13,500 patients, and currently due to social distancing measures can only have 2 dentists daily who can treat 20 patients in total. We try to allow toothache spaces, but with the large volume of patients with restrictions, we are full most days and cannot just simply squeeze patients in as we used to pre-covid crisis. Patients or potential patients are reminded to act respectfully towards our staff who are simply following guidelines, and do not deserve to be treated aggressively. Those who act in this manner are best finding another practice.

I do admit the tone of the above 2 points are more stern than usual, and only applies to a handful of people since the practice was allowed to re-open in June. However, there have been more acts of aggression towards our staff than before and we want to let that small handful of the public know that this is unacceptable. 

Due to Covid- Only one dentist is allowed to work in the practice per day with a small team. The dentist can triage any problems. We are only allowed to see 10 patients per day with emergencies during this phrase 3 stage set by the government. Please do call in if you need help and the helpful team will guide you through.  What does phase 3 mean? Please see below list.

Phase 3 started on 13/07/20- What does this mean?

For now, we can only offer what we have been offering in phase 2, which would be extractions, x-rays, prescriptions for swellings and temporisation of cavities with a soft filling material, as we cannot offer permanent fillings as that would require the drill, which is an aerosol generating procedure (AGP).

We would like to also give all of our patients an idea of our situation, that AGP’s are not actually allowed during phase 3, and will only be available in phase 4.

Thus, we would expect phase 3 to be almost identical to phase 2, but with the provision of dentures. We will still not be able to offer permanent fillings, crowns, bridges or root canal treatments.

Although there has been talk of providing exams, we can simplify this to allow patients to understand what is available:

Soft tissue exam for lumps, bumps and white or red patches – available

Gum disease exams – available

Exams to check for decay – in theory, available, but will not be the best exam we can give as we are not able to use compressed air to dry the teeth.

If we cannot check for decay properly, and if we cannot give patients a time when we will be able to restore that decay, that is one of the main questions which our dentists (and indeed, NHS dentists around Scotland) are still discussing, as that would be of very little benefit to the patient.

We Hope that you can continue to be patient with us during this time of crisis, and we will inform you once we have new announcements from our CDO.

The good news is that significant progress has been made and we are  NOW OPEN once again, albeit with several important restrictions in place.

Can I now get an appointment at Musselburgh Dental Care?

Yes!  The Government advice and from our Chief Dental Officer states that we are ONLY allowed to see 10 patients a day, and so we will not be giving out appointments as easily as in March. We will have to triage patients before we are able to give appointments. Furthermore, we have been restricted to opening only one of the four available surgeries, so unfortunately Phase 2 will not extend to seeing patients for routine or non urgent dental treatments.

We have now entered phase 2-– opening of dental surgeries and allowing face to face appointments for urgent dental care, but not allowed to use high speed drills or ultrasonic scalers. This will limit the treatment options we can give, and so realistically we can take x-rays, take teeth out and temporise teeth with sharp edges or trapping food, but we cannot provide any routine treatment. We are allowed to repair dentures but are struggling to find labs who will take NHS work in the current crisis. We are currently unable to provide new dentures.

Provision of urgent dental care with the use of high speed drills may be offered, but we will have to triage and refer to the emergency dental hubs in chalmers street.

Last week the team have been training on the protocols and systems which must be put in place as instructed by the Scottish Government.

What can I now expect from an appointment at Musselburgh Dental Care?

Things may however look a little different:

• We ask that all patients attend appointments on their own. If this is not possible, please let us know in advance to ensure we can accommodate you
• The front door will be locked at all times, only opened to allow patients with scheduled appointments to enter or exit the building.
• Once triaged and an appointment made, patients will be expected to wait outside in their car until contacted by the receptionist. Once ready, the receptionist will unlock and open the front door to allow the patient to use hand sanitiser, and wait in the waiting room until called by the dentist. Once the procedure has finished, we will then unlock the door to allow the patient to leave the building.
• We ask all patients to wear a mask
• All staff will also be wearing masks
• Dentists will be wearing masks and visors.
• We have installed a safety screen at reception for protection
• We have social distancing measures in place
• We are staggering appointments to avoid more than one patient waiting at a time.

If you would like further information about appointments at Musselburgh Dental Care, please email musselburghdentalcare@hotmail.com and we will be happy to help.

👋 Hello everyone, 👋

Although we still have a long way to go before we can return to normal, the good news is that significant progress has been made and we can open soon, albeit with several important restrictions in place.

As you have all heard on the news, we are entering phase 2 of remobilisation of dental services. Although we would all want services to return back to normal, it is unfortunately not a case of just opening doors again and going back to how it was in early March.

Here at Musselburgh Dental Care, we are currently in the process of following the checklist which was given to us on the 15/6/20 by the health board. This involves changes to the practice which we will inform you of later once we have submitted all the documents to the health board and have them approved. This will also most likely involve an inspection so that the inspectors of the health board will deem us safe to open and not endanger the public.

In addition to the documents, we are being very generously supplied PPE by the health board. However, due to PPE shortages, we are only being given enough to see 10 patients a day, and so we will not be giving out appointments as easily as in March, and we will have to triage patients before we are able to give appointments.

Finally, we would like to let you know the plans for treatment for our NHS practice. Note we are coming into phase 2 on Monday 22nd June.

Phase 1 – NHS surgeries are closed, but increasing the capacity in the urgent dental hubs

Phase 2 – opening of dental surgeries and allowing face to face appointments for urgent dental care, but not allowed to use high speed drills or ultrasonic scalers. This will limit the treatment options we can give, and so realistically we can take x-rays, take teeth out and temporise teeth with sharp edges or trapping food but we cannot provide any routine treatment. We will be allowed to repair dentures but there is no provision of new dentures.

Provision of urgent dental care with the use of high speed drills may be offered, but we will have to triage and refer to the emergency dental hubs in chalmers street centre.

Phase 3 – allowing more routine treatments available like exams and hand scaling, but still not allowed to use high speed drills or ultrasonic scalers.

Phase 4 – introduction of high speed drills

Note: almost all fillings, crown work, bridge work will require the use of a high speed drill.

Here at Musselburgh Dental Care, we will try to open as soon as possible, but it is unlikely to be on Monday 22/3/20. It will all depend on how fast the health board can process the documents and we ask and Thank you for your patience, as the health board will no doubt be swamped with documents and they will process them as fast as they can.

We look forward to seeing you all in due course. In the meantime, stay safe, keep well and please take care. 🤗 🦷

👋 Hello everyone, 👋

Just a little update. There has been a few articles circulating online and speculations regarding phased return of NHS dental services. To clarify :-Dental NHS practices in SCOTLAND will NOT be opening on the 08/06/2020.

Here in Scotland we have just very recently been given a government plan on how it will be phased.We are waiting for a date from the Scottish government and from the Scottish chief dental officer. We will let all our patients know as soon as we know.

We understand how frustrating this is and Thank you for your patience. We are still here happy to help on 0131 665 2786.

In the meantime, stay safe, keep well and please take care. 🤗

COVID-19 UPDATE 25/03/2020 for Musselburgh Dental Care

From 10am this morning on 25/3/20 we received guidance from Lothian Health board to close. This is to keep both patients and staff safe in the current crisis.

No dentistry will be carried out at the practice.

Patients in pain will be asked to call 07752735830. We are very sorry but the practice number 0131 665 2786 will no longer be used during this crisis as we are unable to divert calls from our landline. We have tried to contact our landline provider but have been unsuccessful in call diverts due to the telecom companies being under immense stress.

The new phone number is very basic so please keep calling if the number is engaged.

Patients with toothache, severe symptoms of infection, bleeding or trauma can also utilise this website to put their contact details in via a private message so that we can contact you later.

A dentist will chat to discuss the toothache and advise on painkillers or antibiotics if necessary.

If the toothache cannot be treated with painkillers or antibiotics, the patient can be referred via a phone call to a specialist centre to treat the tooth. Currently there are very limited specialised protective gear to shield the staff at the specialised centre from aerosols, and so the most likely treatment is to remove the tooth causing toothache.

Please be aware that any patients who call a specialised centre will most likely have their cases rejected as they will only accept referrals from dentists.

Patients who call out of hours with severe symptoms of infection, bleeding or trauma can call the emergency NHS services on111.

We apologise for the disruption, these measures are required to keep our staff, patients and the general public safe.

We would encourage all our patients to share the new emergency number of 07752735830, as not all our patients will have read the new posters on our windows and door, and many do not use social media or have access to the internet.

Stay safe and well

Musselburgh Dental Care

PRACTICE INFORMATION regarding cancellations and EMERGENCIES ONLY.

We would like to inform all our patients the practice will be OPEN for EMERGENCIES ONLY.  We take the safety of our patients and staff extremely seriously and are taking precautionary steps to help minimize any risk of spreading Covid-19 in our premises.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION regarding Coronavirus‼️

If you have an appointment with us, please keep the number of people with you to a minimum, we would like to ask only patients attending their appointment to come to the practice.

🤒😷We ask any patient who has a temperature of 37.8 degrees or higher, a new continuous cough to call us to re arrange your appointment with us on 0131 665 2786

🦷Please do keep your appointments if you are well and we will be here to provide you with care.

👌Remember catch it, bin it and wash hands often.

Many Thanks and keep well.
Musselburgh Dental Care