Autumn 2019
As Autumn is upon us and thoughts turn to next year, you will soon receive a copy of ‘Your Denplan 2020’ booklet in the post. If you are the lead payer in a group keep an eye out for the booklet in October or November as it contains important information about the 2020 fees for you and your group.
Staff News
Many congratulations to nurse Kim who married Mike on 29th June 2019. Well done to nurse Emma who completed the 100KM Race to The Stones 2019 event with her sister in 18 hours 30 mins.
Practice Updates
We have just introduced a digital imaging scanner to allow us to store your radiographs on our computers. The image processing is quicker and we can magnify your images to allow us to provide you with the best diagnosis. It will also allow us to email images to other colleagues if referrals are required. This investment will help us better detect, diagnose, treat and monitor oral conditions and diseases. We no longer accept American Express as a method of payment, we continue to accept Visa & MasterCard, Contactless (up to £30), Apple Pay, mobile payments, cash or cheques.
Recycling
Recycle your oral care waste with us and help raise funds for Wiltshire Air Ambulance. We have a large red collection box in the reception area for the following items:
✔ ACCEPTED WASTE
- Any brand of toothbrushes and electric toothbrush heads
- Any brand of toothpaste tubes and caps
- Any brand of toothbrush outer packaging
- Any brand of toothpaste cartons
✗ NOT ACCEPTED WASTE
Dental Floss, Floss Containers, Toothache Kits, Breath Sprays, Denture Adhesive Packaging, Denture Tablets Packaging, Denture Cream Tubes, Battery Toothbrushes, Mouthwash Plastic Bottles and Toothpaste Pumps. Please bring your toothbrushes and electric toothbrush heads in a sealed plastic bag and place into the collection box. Everything else can go directly into the box. Once collected the items are cleaned before being melted down to a hard plastic that can be remoulded to make new recycled products.
TEPE INTERDENTAL BRUSHES
We can also recycle used TePe Interdental Brushes at the practice. Simply return your used brushes in a sealed bag. We have a separate yellow collection bin behind reception desk for these items only. The brushes will be incinerated to generate energy for heating and bottom ash for road and car park surfacing.
Cancellation policy
Over the last 2 years we have been tracking the number of appointments which were cancelled less than 48 hours prior to the appointment and those which were not attended at all. We are doing this to provide the best quality of care and ensure we can offer appointments as soon as possible when required. We understand that there are times when circumstances mean appointments are missed and these situations have not been accounted for in our figures.
June 2017 to May 2018 = 221 hours
June 2018 to May 2019 = 163 hours 30 minutes
We will continue to charge £30.00 per appointment when a patient fails to attends or cancels without reasonable notice (this applies to private and Denplan patients). Under NHS regulations, we are unable to charge NHS patients but can terminate your treatment and ask you to find another dental practice if you continuously miss appointments. Thank you to everyone who has made an effort to notify us as soon as possible about any changes to an appointment. It is great to see the amount of surgery time missed has improved by 60 hours.
Facial Aesthetics
Did you know Long Street Dental offer more than dental treatment? Dr Paul Silvester has been providing anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers since 2006. We are recognised as a Save Face Accredited Practice, which is a national register of practitioners who provide non-surgical cosmetic treatments. In the right hands, the results of the treatment can be fantastic, delivering subtle and discreet enhancements that not only make us look better but can help to make us feel better too. If you would like to know more about any of these treatments please ask our reception team to book you a free consultation with Dr Silvester.
Makaton Friendly Dental Practice
Long Street Dental is a member of the Makaton Friendly Scheme. Senior Nurse Deborah and Nurse Emma recently attended a Makaton training session and learnt the Core Vocabulary, the signs and symbols needed for everyday communication. We join 30 other businesses in Devizes backing a campaign to make the town Makaton Friendly and hope this will help more patients with communication difficulties in the future. As of August 2019, Devizes officially became the joint third town in the UK to become Makaton friendly. For more information visit makaton.org.
Out-of-Hours Emergency Cover
We are part of an emergency dental call-out team between the hours of 9:00am – 4.30pm on weekends and public holidays and up to 6.30pm weekdays. If you have a genuine dental emergency, Denplan and private patients should ring 01380 723691 and listen to the instructions on our answerphone message. This service is covered on a rota system shared by dentists in Devizes, Trowbridge and Bradford on Avon. Please be prepared to travel to the dental practice which is on the rota at the time of your call. For NHS children you should call 111. Denplan patients also have the additional option of calling the Denplan Emergency Helpline Team whose number is 0800 844 999.
