Hello Bays Dental friends and family,
With government's announcement tonight regarding Alert Level 4, we would like to assure you that we are OPEN for any emergencies or urgent care.
If you have made an appointment which falls within the Alert Level 4 time-frame, we regret that your booking will automatically be cancelled if it falls outside the scope of being an Emergency. Please see below for a list of procedures we will be allowed to treat during Alert Level 4.
We promise to contact you and reschedule your appointment. Having said that, we welcome your email or phone call to re-book your appointment once we reach Level 1 or 2, even if you have not heard from us. If you are unsure about your appointment, feel free to email info@baysdental.co.nz or phone us on 09 410 0042 and we will clarify.
Seeing patients during Alert Level 3 & 4:
Throughout the Alert levels, we are guided by the NZ Dental Council and the Ministry of Health. While in alert level 4 and subsequently Level 3 there are limitations to the procedures we can carry out safely due to COVID-19. These are restricted to treating emergency / urgent problems including:
- Severe Pain or Infection uncontrollable with prescription medication
- Facial Trauma
- Prolonged Bleeding
When we tend to your “emergency/urgent problem” we need to follow all alert level 3 and 4 guidelines. As such, we may or may not be able to perform appropriate treatment at your scheduled appointment. We will however try our best to organise a prescription, advise, temporise, or treat the main issue under these circumstances. Since we might not be able to complete your treatment, we may need to bring you back once the alert Levels decrease to 1 or 2 in order to treat the issue completely in a safer environment (alert Level 1 and 2 guidelines permit us to use more equipment producing aerosols e.g. drills and hand-pieces).
Currently there is a waiting list of patients waiting to be seen who do not fit the criteria of needing “Emergency/Urgent Treatment”. We appreciate your patience and will endeavour to see you as soon as possible once Level 4 restrictions are lifted.
Entering our clinic during Alert Level 3 & 4:
Our door will be locked to restrict access and ensure you are kept safe: Even though we will be operating, our main front door will be locked. We are restricting entry to those who have made appointments via email or phone. This is to maintain physical distancing, reduce foot traffic, reduce the risk of transmission and keep everyone safe. If you would like to discuss anything with us, or ask questions, please call or email us rather than coming to the clinic.
Please phone us from your car when you arrive for your appointment: When you arrive for your scheduled appointment, please phone us from your car or outside the clinic to let us know you have arrived. We will open the practice doors and wave you in when we are ready for you to come in.
NZ Covid Tracer: We've placed posters, containing the official QR code outside our entrance and in various easy to scan places inside our practice. We encourage you to please use the app upon arrival.
Please wear your mask: Upon entering our clinic, you must wear your face mask in order to minimise the spread of the virus.
Maintain Physical Distancing: Once inside our clinic, we ask that you please maintain physical distancing of 2m apart wherever possible.
Sanitise your hands: Please sanitise your hands at our sanitising station when entering and before exiting.
When Making Urgent/Emergency Appointments:
If you are in serious pain and needing to make an urgent/emergency appointment, there will be some important things to note that will help us to help you.
You must let us know if:
You have a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19
You or anyone coming in contact with you, has had contact with someone with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19
You have traveled internationally in the last 21 days
You are aged 70 or over
You have any of the following symptoms: - Sore throat - Cough - Shortness of breath - High temperature (>38C) - Muscle aches or any other cold or flu symptoms .
Urgent / Emergency Appointments Costs:
Extra required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for our team will incur a $35-65 surcharge (the extra PPE is a legal requirement through the NZ Dental Council and Ministry of Health- we cannot see or treat you without this).
Our normal Consultation and x-ray maintains the same at $85 during Alert Level 4.
We may look different with extra face shields, gowns and gear on, but this is currently our “new normal” to protect you, ourselves and our community. We hope that you will still be able to see our usual smiles (in our eyes) behind all the gear.
At alert level 2 we will be able to see more of you again for regular appointments. Regulations are constantly changing, and we will update you if there are any changes to the way that we need to operate.
We look forward to seeing you (hopefully) some time in the near future.
Warm regards,
The team at Bays Dental