Practice news – April 2019
11 April 2019
Resistance to antibiotics
Dentistry accounts for up to 10% of overall antibiotic prescribing in the UK and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is becoming a serious threat to public health globally. Dentists can play an important role in helping to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Antibiotic consumption in the UK has risen and the rise in AMR could lead, if unchecked, to many modern medical and surgical treatments and the care of those who are immune suppressed becoming impossible. To prevent the escalation of this problem, dentists are being urged to think carefully before prescribing antibiotics and to try and find some other way of treating the problem. Many are taking part in successful projects around the UK to review the influencing on their prescribing patterns.
Rethinking your approach to antibiotics:
Visit your dental team regularly to help prevent dental problems before they start or worsen.
If you are suffering with toothache, see your dentist, not your GP, to receive the most appropriate care. Toothache is usually caused by dental decay, which antibiotics won’t cure.
Trust your dentist’s judgement on whether they decide to prescribe you antibiotics or not – most of the time you don’t need them.
Antibiotics are not painkillers. Speak to your dentist about managing any dental pain you might have. They can advise on the most effective ways to alleviate your pain, such as appropriate dental treatment, pain medication, ice packs, or salt water rinses. Antibiotics won’t always help with this.
Prevent infections by practicing good oral hygiene and personal hygiene.
Only use antibiotics as directed and finish the entire course as prescribed – never save them for later.
Never share antibiotics prescribed to you with anyone else.
Antibiotics can cause unpleasant side effects such as diarrhoea, nausea or skin rashes, so it’s important to take them only when absolutely necessary and under the instruction of a health professional.
If you would like to know more about this subject do please ask us.
Grandparents/nannies consent
We are aware that some of our younger patients are brought to their dental appointments by a grandparent, other relative or nanny/au pair. Please could we inform you that if it is not the legal parent or guardian of the child who brings them to see us then we will need a signed consent form to be brought with the child to their appointments. If we do not have this form then we cannot see the child. Please telephone or email reception if you would like a consent form sent or emailed to you.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations)
A new Data protection Act became law on 25th May 2018. Coniston Dental Practice has a new Privacy Policy that explains what personal data the practice holds, why we hold and process
it, who we might share it with, and your rights and freedoms under the Law. You can view this document on our website or at the practice. You can also request a copy to be emailed or sent to you, or you can pick up a paper copy at the practice.
Many of you will have noticed that we now ask our patients to review and sign their medical histories at each check-up visit. We are also asking our patients to sign their Treatment Plan if they need to come back for treatment. It is important to read this document carefully to ensure you understand what treatment is recommended for you. You can, however, still opt out of having this treatment at any time.
Payment plans for children
It has been some time since we have looked at our dental care options for our children at the practice and therefore we have reviewed what we do and introduced new options to improve our service.
We are very excited to introduce our new Denplan Essentials for Children plans!
Children up to the age of 5 years old are still seen for a free examination every 6 months if a parent or guardian attends our practice too (the fee is £20.00 otherwise).
Children aged 5- 10 years old can either pay as you go at £13.65 for an examination every 6 months (£20.00 if no parent or guardian attends our practice too) or sign up to our 5-10 category on Denplan Essentials for Children to spread the cost of these check-ups and benefit from additional savings. The cost of this is £2.27 a month (the cost of 2 check-ups but spread over a 12 month period). This also entitles them to 10% of any other treatment needed and the option to have supplementary insurance cover for accidents such as falling off a bicycle and breaking teeth. An added bonus is that if you have more than one child on the plan they will each receive a 5-15% discount on their monthly fee (making the fee less than for 2 check-ups a year).
For our children aged 10 to 18 years old we have introduced 2 new Denplan Essentials for children options. The check-up fee for a child of this age is £20.00 and this fee includes routine monitoring x-rays. If they are signed up to the new Denplan Essentials for Children plan you can spread the cost of this over the year paying £3.33 a month. As with the younger children’s plan they will benefit from the 10% discount, supplementary insurance option and family discount if more than one child joins on the same plan.
A further option for the 10 to 18 year old age group is to include 2 hygienist visits a year too. The monthly cost for this option is £11.75 a month.
We hope you are as excited as we are about these new options for you. Please do not hesitate to call and ask us anything. Your dentist will discuss this with you at your children’s next appointment. As an added bonus if you sign them up on the day of their check-up we will not charge for the check-up fee that day!
Parking Notice
Please can you kindly note that parking in the vets next door and The Close is not permitted.
Parking for our disabled patients is only allowed prior to a special arrangement with the vets, made by our receptionists.
If this arrangement is abused the vets will revoke this privilege for our disabled patients.
Keeping in touch
We are now able to contact our patients by email to let them know when their next appointment is due. In the past we have had issues with our recalls going astray in the postal system and we hope that by using email it will make our recall system more efficient.
If you would like to receive your recalls by email, please let reception know, or email us on reception@conistondental.co.uk to request it.
Please let us know of any changes in your circumstances; i.e. address, telephone number or medication.
Reminder for patients – please ensure you are carrying any medical warning cards which have been issued at all times. Most Smart phones have the facility to enter medical information for emergency access.
What’s not to like!
Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook. Please like our page to see fun facts, photos, practice updates and helpful tips on caring for your teeth. Search for Coniston Dental Practice. We look forward to seeing you there!
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