Covid 19 - We are prepared

COVID 19 is likely to be with us for a long time and we realise this may be a scary and stressful time for many people.

Dental care is an important part of your overall health and we have aimed to go above and beyond to in our standards to be able to continue to provide care in a safe way.

• ALL team members are fully vaccinated against COVID 19

• ALL patients and visitors are screened for symptoms and any other risk factors before their appointment

• All staff, patients and visitors wear masks in the common areas

• Entry and exit of the practice is controlled to minimise any interactions between people and to minimise any time in shared areas. We ask that you don’t bring extra people with you unless completely unavoidable.

• All surgeries have been converted to “Airbourne Infection Isolation Rooms” or negative pressure rooms. This is a system also used to deal with infected patients in hospitals. It means that the air from the surgeries is sucked out through the ventilation system and does not leak into the rest of the practice when the door to the room is opened.

• We use a pre procedural mouth rinse and rubber dam where possible along with high volume suction to further minimise any aerosols in the air

• In the treatment room for any work that creates aerosols we also wear respirators (a special type of mask), and full PPE. This protects both us and you.

• There is a stand down time for the room after it is used before we enter again to clean. Our usual extremely high standard of cross infection control continues as normal.

We are hoping that at some point in the future rapid saliva tests become available. If they do we will look at regular testing of ourselves, and testing of patients before entry.

Please get in contact if you have something bothering you at the moment. We do want to see you all again soon, but have a large number of appointments to rebook, and we need to allow more time between appointments now. Because of this we will need to prioritise urgent issues. This will likely mean that some appointments for routine checkups are delayed. We have had to remove the online booking option at this stage.

You can help us by:

• filling in your screening form carefully well before your appointment,

• texting us when you arrive (we will let you know when to come through)

• bringing a mask and putting in on before you enter,

• scanning in

We would encourage all our patients to get immunised to protect themselves, their families and the community.

Thanks and we really appreciate your support.

TWO late nights available now!

Now that we have the amazing Rebecca as our new dentist, we’re able to offer two late nights with her -Both Wednesdays and Thursdays. Give us a call if you’d like to make a time!

LEVEL 2 Hooray!!!

We’re really pleased to be able to offer our normal care again!

Things are a little different - Everyone needs to be screened for symptoms before we can make them an appointment. This happens again just before you enter. It is REALLY important that you answer these questions carefully. It does mean that through Winter we will need to delay treatment for anyone with a cold etc, but we this is something we do anyway it’s just that it needs to be more strict now.

When you arrive for your appointment, we’ll get you to call us, but stay in your car until we're ready to get you through. Our forms have moved to online versions, and on top of our normal very high standards of cross infection control there is an anti viral mouthwash.

I’ve tried not to wince too much seeing not just members of the public, but health professionals too, wearing and using PPE incorrectly. It has made us realise that dentists are actually expert at infection control, and that infection control isn’t as straight forward as people think. We use universal precautions -this means we treat everyone as though they are infectious.

COVID 19 - CORONA VIRUS

As of today we will only be able to be contacted by phone due to the lockdown. We may be able to provide some emergency care during this period. This will be for true emergencies only -facial swelling, severe pain and trauma, however we’re happy to provide advice over the phone for your situation. Please phone the usual practice number 09 833 8182 to get in contact with us, or text ‭027 559 8699‬ for a call back. A phone call during our normal business hours is preferred over email.

All the best and hang on in there everyone!

Worried about dental treatment? We offer sedation!

IV sedation can help you cope with dental treatment

You are not the only person who feels really anxious about dental treatment! It’s something we talk to people about all the time. The hardest bit is often just picking up the phone and giving us a call.

I firmly believe that the most important thing is to be kind, a good listener, and be great at getting things really numb! But I know that some people need something extra - and that is sedation.

What is sedation?

It’s a medicine that helps you feel relaxed and makes you feel more comfortable about dental treatment. It goes into an IV line in your arm. You are not asleep but often don’t remember much afterwards.

Sedation also often works well for people who have trouble with gagging.

If you’ve been putting off coming because of fear, please do pick up the phone and give us a ring.

Guide dog puppy!

This week we had a visit from 15 week old Orton who is currently under guide dog training. He will be in training for another 2 years before he is ready to assist someone. Guide dogs are always welcome. We don't usually get puppy cuddles in the surgery but enjoyed having him visit!

What happens when you leave the room....

This is the bit you don't normally see -breaking down and setting up the surgery. After every single patient surfaces are disinfected and dried, instruments cleaned and sterilised, waterlines and suction flushed. It takes Lisa about 10 minutes (we've sped up the video for you!). We often get comments on how clean the surgery is - I think our standards are actually higher than a hospital.

Toothpaste!

Which toothpaste should I use? We get asked this a lot! Do you know that the ONLY component in toothpaste that has actually been proven to do anything useful against decay is FLUORIDE? All the other stuff is to make it taste nice, make it foam, or make it a pretty colour and nice texture, or just an advertising gimmick. We see a lot of people with major decay who are accidentally using a non fluoride containing paste.

YES to: any Colgate, Macleans, Sensodyne, Oral B, Curaprox.

NO to: Red Seal, Grin, EcoStore, Comvita

Remember an adult dose is a pea size, and just a smear for kids.

Free Dental Day done and dusted!

Yesterday we hosted our first "free dental day" for the NZ Dental Association. It was a pleasure to meet everyone who registered and came along - We met some great people!

We are pleased we were all able to offer our time and services to help those in our wider community.

Free Dental Day at Massey Smiles

We're pleased to be participating in the New Zealand Dental Association free dental days. We will be treating as many people as we can on our day. Anyone with a community services card is eligible. All bookings are made through the Dental Association by ringing 0800 373 376. We are unable to make any bookings ourselves so please do ring them! 

Payment plans are available!

Exciting news -We now have our very own payment plans available for treatment up to $500! We know this is something that will be really popular. We now have several options, all interest free for both big dental jobs and little dental jobs, so If you have been putting off treatment because of worries about the cost please give us a ring.

New team member!

We're thrilled to welcome Carly to the practice as our new receptionist! Carly is super friendly, and a local Massey resident who has two boys at Massey Primary.