Administration ...
Surgery Times:
| |
Morning Surgery |
Afternoon Surgery |
| Monday
& Tuesday |
8:30 am
to 12:30 pm |
1:30 pm to 5:00 pm |
|
Wednesday & Thursday |
8:30 am
to 12:30 pm |
1:30 pm to 5:30 pm |
| Friday |
8:30 am
to 12:30 pm |
Closed |
|
Saturday |
9:00 am
to 12:30 pm |
Closed |
| Sunday |
Closed
all day ~ emergency service available |
|
Outside normal surgery hours,
the telephone answering machine is in operation, which will inform
callers of the emergency callout telephone number and enable callers to
leave any messages.
Appointments...
Appointments can be made by telephone or in person. Emergency cases will
be seen the same day, providing the patient calls the surgery prior to
9:30 am on the day in question... after that time, emergency slots will
have been allocated and patients may have to wait until the following
day.
Please give as much
notice as possible in the event you have to cancel an appointment so
that it may be re-allocated to another patient. Much wasted surgery time
occurs if patients fail to cancel appointments they are unable to
keep... in 1997, for instance, we had over 600 missed appointments,
leading to an enormous waste of surgery time and longer waiting times
for treatment. Consequently, and sadly, it is now the policy of this
practice to make a charge for failed appointments on a time-wasted
basis.
What Should I Do After Treatment?...
After routine treatment (e.g. scaling & polishing) your teeth will often
be sensitive and the gums may also bleed slightly for a couple of days
until the tissues heal. This is perfectly normal and should not be cause
for alarm.
Amalgam fillings remain soft for a time after they are placed. It is
wise not to chew on an amalgam filling for two to three hours until it
has begun to set... although with most amalgam, full strength is not
achieved until about 24 hours after it has been placed and during that
time is still a little vulnerable to biting pressure. Sensitivity,
particularly to cold, is common when a new amalgam filling has been
placed, although this usually wears off within a few days.
Following an extraction , it is important to let the socket bleed freely
for about the first 30 minutes so that it fills with a good solid blood
clot, enabling the healing process to take place more rapidly. In the
event that the blood clot breaks down, the socket is likely to become
infected and 'dry', a condition which becomes extremely painful some
three to four days after the extraction... this will require dressing
and treatment with prescribed antibiotics. If a socket continues to
bleed heavily, a simple remedy is to roll up a clean handkerchief and
bite on it across the socket for about five minutes, at which point the
bleeding will normally stop. Extraction sockets can often be sore once
the local anaesthetic has worn off, but this soreness can be relieved by
taking painkillers. It is best to avoid Aspirin® (as the nature of this
medication causes the blood to thin slightly and retards the growth of
blood clots) but Paracetomol or Ibuprofen (such as Nurofen®) are good
alternatives... Ibuprofen is particularly good as it has the effect of
reducing the swelling often related to pain.
After a new denture has been fitted, sore spots often appear which ease
as the denture settles down, but any ulceration will be dealt with by
adjustment of the denture at your 'review' appointment. Please do no be
tempted to adjust the denture yourself, since this can easily make
matters much worse.
Cross-Infection Control...
For the last few years as the incidence of Hepatitis B and HIV infection
has increased within the general population, so the necessity to prevent
the spread of infection between patients has become paramount. In the
past, dentists traditionally used reusable needles, etc., which could
allow infection to spread from patient to patient... this is now not
acceptable and the cross-infection control regime we carry out is
designed to make dental treatment safer for the patient. At Parkview
Dental Practice, we take hygiene and cross-infection control very
seriously.
When treating patients we routinely wear masks and gloves which are
disposed of and renewed after each patient and we use as many single-use
disposable products as possible... including needles, anaesthetic
cartridges, tissues and instrument wipes, paper hand towels, plastic
mouth-rinsing cups, etc.
Other equipment of a non-disposable nature is first cleaned thoroughly
and then sterilised in an autoclave (like a big pressure cooker) at a
temperature of 135o for three minutes, which kills all bacteria and
virus particles. Instruments are then stored on single-patient trays to
avoid cross-contamination. All our surgical instruments are sterilised
similarly but are then kept in sterile paper bags ready for use.
Handpieces and other rotary and air-driven instruments are sterilised
between patients whenever they have received salivary contamination.
Other surfaces in the surgery likey to become contaminated are either
protected with film wrap which is removed and replaced once
contamination has taken place, or regulatory cleaned with disinfectant
spray for your protection.
Comments...
If you have any comments to make regarding the services we offer (or
that you would like to see being offered) then please feel free to
comment. There is always a stack of questionnaires available in the
waiting room which can be completed anonymously if you so wish (or in
the event that you have a specific comment, you may write your name and
address on the back of the form) and post it in the box provided. You
can also email us. We are always open to constructive criticism since,
after all, if we can improve our service it is you, the patient, who
will eventually benefit.
You may comment on-line about the service you have received at the
surgery or about how useful you found this Web site. Please link to the
Comments page, where you can make your
feelings known. Comments you make about this Web site can also help the
Webmaster to improve the content provided and the way it is presented