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Keeping you safe during COVID-19

We're open again to keep you smiling!

Welcome back Kiwis! Now that we’re in Level 2, all our dental practices are open again. We can now provide routine dental care once again, as well as urgent or emergency dental care. We know that this has been a difficult time for everyone, so we look forward to seeing your smile in our dental practices soon. We genuinely appreciate your support as we unite together against COVID-19 during these extraordinary times.

Keeping you safe during COVID-19

Dentistry may be changing, but one thing that won’t is our commitment to the health and safety of our patients and our teams. We have always maintained a high level of best-practice safety protocols, even before COVID-19. Our practices meet the Infection Control & Prevention Standards, as guided by the Dental Council of New Zealand (DCNZ). As your good health guardians, we’ve got you covered.

Hear from Anna Walker, chairperson of our Clinical Advisory Board, about what to expect in Level 2, and what we’re doing to keep you safe.

 

Screening patients before appointments

To help keep everyone safe, we will be in touch to ask you a series of triage questions before your appointment. Please consider the questions below:

  • Have you had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19?
  • Have you travelled internationally in the last 14 days?
  • Have you, or anyone coming in contact with you, had contact with someone with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19?
  • Do you exhibit any acute respiratory infection symptoms, with at least one of the following symptoms, with or without a fever?
    • Cough
    • Sore throat
    • Shortness of breath
    • Coryza (head cold symptoms, e.g. runny nose, sneezing, post-nasal drip)
    • Anosmia (loss of sense of smell)
    • Aquesia (loss of taste)

If you have an appointment booked and you answered YES to any of the above, please call us to talk through your options. We may also call you to confirm your answers to these questions again, just prior to your appointment, in case anything has changed for you. We do appreciate your support and understanding as we unite with you against COVID-19.

What is routine dental care?

In Alert Level 2, we can now see you for emergency and routine dental care, which includes non-essential and elective dentistry. This includes a wide range of dental treatments including:

Have questions?

Our practices meet the Infection Control & Prevention Standards, as guided by the Dental Council of New Zealand (DCNZ). Special precautions are put in place to ensure safety. These include additional personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning and decontamination procedures. While we already had a high level of safety protocols before COVID-19, we have also added increased hand hygiene measures for patients and our team. Sterilisation of instruments after use occurs as usual, meeting the DCNZ’s  Infection Prevention & Control Standards.

We have always used the recommended PPE for dental treatment. In addition, we have trained our teams regarding any additional PPE required for COVID-19, to keep our patients and our teams safe. Our clinicians will be wearing appropriate PPE where required, including surgical, impervious disposal gowns, appropriate masks, and headcovers.

Our teams follow strict processes when they prepare to see a patient:

  • When an N95 mask is fitted, checks for appropriate seals are carried out
  • PPE is donned in a clean area separate from the treatment area
  • PPE is single-use only and is changed immediately after each patient, or following completion of a specific dental procedure
  • Used PPE is disposed of following strict hazardous waste or clinical waste guidelines

In Alert Level 2, our high-level best-practice safety protocols will continue, including additional COVID-19 health and safety measures.

Screening

  • We will be screening patients by asking you a series of important triage questions, prior to appointments and on arrival, to ensure health and safety standards are met and the treatment process is customised to your needs

Preventing the spread

  • We have health measures in place to ensure the health of patients and our team are monitored, for example, contactless temperature checks
  • We provide you with hand sanitiser to use throughout your visit, from arrival to departure
  • Reading material such as magazines have been removed from waiting areas

Social distancing

  • We will actively manage patient appointments to meet social distancing guidelines, which is particularly important for our patients aged over 70, or those with pre-existing health conditions
  • We may ask you to attend your appointment alone, where possible
  • We will manage patient flow through our dental practices, which may mean you will wait in your car or somewhere safe for your appointment, until the team has completed their procedures and are ready for you

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

We have always used the recommended PPE for dental treatment. In addition, we have trained our teams regarding additional PPE, to keep our patients and our teams safe.

Our clinicians will be wearing appropriate PPE including:

    • surgical impervious disposal gowns
    • surgical or N95 masks
    • headcovers
    • gloves

Contact tracing

  • We will maintain a contact register for all patients and visitors, to allow for contact tracing if required

 

Your dentist will recommend a treatment option best suited to you and your budget and will give you an estimate of the price and payment options during your appointment. We accept a wide range of payment methods and have plenty of flexible pay later finance options including Afterpay and 18 Months Interest Free With Q. If your Lumino practice offers the Lumino Dental Plan, it’s a great way to save money all year round and when you need dental treatments, for less than $1* a day.

*Lumino Dental Plan terms and conditions apply.

If you had an appointment booked with us during this time, you don't need to worry about calling us to cancel it. We will get in touch with you to rebook your appointment.

We get it. We’re New Zealand’s largest group of dentists so we’ve seen more scared patients than any other dental practice in the country. We know that you already be anxious about visiting the dentist, let alone during these challenging times. Our gentle and compassionate dentists understand how you feel – we’re in this together! We can assure you that our dental practices have always provided a safe environment for dental care – even more so now. We take our guidance from our industry bodies and do everything we can to take all precautions necessary to keep you safe. If you’re anxious or worried, the best thing to do is let us know how you feel. Making sure you feel comfortable is part of our job.