COVID-19 Update From Our Principal Dentist, Dr. Ricky Freytag
April 27th, 2020
GOOD NEWS!
As of Monday 27th April 2020 dentistry as moved down from Level 3 restrictions to Level 2. Though we are still limited with our treatments, we are back to about 70-80% of what we can treat you for. We can now carry out more routine dental treatment such as routine exam and cleans, routine fillings, consults, and orthodontic treatment.
What we have been restricted from doing is trying to minimise any aerosol treating treatments; this includes using the ultrasonic cleaner during cleans. It does mean we will be doing cleans by hand which will take a little longer. All our restorations will be under rubber damn to minimise creating any saliva aerosols.
Implant treatment and crowns will have to be delayed unless critically essential. But we can still treatment plan for them.
At this stage we will also still be open limited hours as we get back to ‘normal’. Our hours are going to be restricted from Monday to Friday 9am till 4pm at this stage. We will not have any late nights or Saturday appointments for the time being.
We apologise for any inconvenience this might cause.
What are we doing to keep you safe?
So you know we are keeping you and everyone safe under Level 2 restrictions we are still taking all the precautions as with Level 3.
We are having all appointments for at least an hour long. We are only having 1 dentist on per day. This gives us the chance to use 2 rooms to allow our nurses to fully disinfect every room under NO time restraints. This also minimises patients in the waiting room and patient cross over to try and reduce any cross-contamination.
Along with those extra precautions we also have our previous precautions of distancing our waiting room chairs, full disinfection of front waiting room after EVERY patient including all pens, EFTPOS machine, front desk, door handles etc. We will have alcohol gel at the front door, at the front desk, and in every room for your use.
All our staff will be in disposable personal protection equipment (PPE) to again minimise any cross-contamination.
We please remind you to follow our COVID-19 Policy
- Have you been interstate or overseas in the last 2-3 weeks?
- Have you been around anyone that has been overseas in the last 2-3 weeks?
- Do you have ANY signs of cold or flu including running nose, sneezing, cough, fever, difficulty breathing etc?
- Have you been in contact with any cold or flu-like symptoms?
- Have you been in contact with a confirmed case of the coronavirus?
If you have answered “YES” to any of these questions, please DO NOT attend to the clinic.
Please give us a call to reschedule your appointment for at least 2-3 weeks.
We are so excited to be able to see all of you again, but you will notice we will have minimal staff working on any given day. We will try to slowly build up to where we were before. We thank you for your understanding during these tough times. All things considered, it is great that we’re doing so well as a community, a state, and as a country!
See you all soon! In the meantime, stay smart & stay safe.
– Dr. Richard Freytag and the team at Portrush Family Dental
