Hello Bays Dental friends and family, Thank you for all doing your part in staying home during Alert Level 4. We wanted to advise and give you tips on how to manage any dental problems during this Nationwide lock down. We remain closed until further notice, and at this stage we are also uncertain when we will be open and seeing you all again. We will be guided by the Ministry of Health, the New Zealand Dental Council and the New Zealand Dental Association to when it is safe for us to provide emergency and routine dental treatment again. Dentistry is one of the professions that runs the highest risks of being exposed to Covid-19. Not only are dentists in close proximity to a person's mouth, but the use of drills/instruments produce aerosol, making treatment extremely high risk. Many with Covid-19 do not display symptoms. This further endangers the patient, risks spreading infection to other patients, the team and the clinician (community transmission). This is why we remain closed- to protect others, ourselves and reduce the risk of spread within our community. But if there are genuine urgent emergencies (defined by the Dental Council), such as advanced infection/facial swelling, severe toothache unresponsive to prescription medications, extensive trauma/accident or uncontrollable excessive bleeding- please email us. We can get in touch to give advice or refer you to see one of the few emergency dentists in the area still operating (by referral only and only if they meet the emergency criteria). Please keep in mind, with increased PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that is required, there could be a surcharge for this additional equipment required during this Pandemic. To avoid unnecessary dental problems right now, we recommend the following tips:
Continue to brush thoroughly in the morning and night for 2 minutes. Watch our “how to brush properly” video demo.
Floss between every tooth before brushing at night (every night or every 2nd night). Watch our “how to floss” video demo.
Drink plenty of water between meals and snacks to wash away carbohydrates, sugars and acid from your teeth which cause tooth decay/cavities.
Avoid eating or biting hard, crunchy or sticky foods to prevent fillings from breaking (almonds, hard multigrain crackers, pork crackling, corn chips, Minties, gummy lollies).
If you have a sensitive or broken tooth/filling, avoid foods that will shock the tooth. Stay away from very cold/hot (extreme temperatures) food, drinks or very hard foods to chew on that side.
Apply Colgate Sensitive Pro-relief, or Sensodyne Rapid Relief toothpaste onto the sensitive area like a spot cream overnight for 1-2 weeks. This may temporarily help with the sensitivity.
If you have Braces/or Orthodontics:
Stay away from crunchy, hard foods to prevent broken brackets.
Please brush around your braces, teeth and gums well during this time. If your gums bleed frequently or are swollen, it means there is too much plaque/old food sitting there. Please use your small interdental/pipe cleaner brush and platypus flosser to clean under and around the braces.
If a small wire is sticking out and cutting your lip, please carefully tuck it under your braces/main wire. You can also use orthodontic wax to cover the sharp area for comfort.
Unfortunately, during this time we cannot rebond/fix broken brackets. Please be extra careful around that side and we will aim to fix it as soon as it is safe to do so. Future Appointments. After the Lockdown there could be a few possible scenarios: At Level 3- We will be open and be contactable via phone, but still only be able to see emergency/urgent patients with increased PPE. At this stage, we still will not be able to reschedule or make future appointments until we are at Level 2. There will likely be extra precautions in place, including patients waiting in their cars until they are called in one at a time. Please don’t be alarmed by how different the team may look with their extra PPE. At Level 2/1- We aim to reschedule those appointments which have been cancelled during lock down, however there may be ongoing changes in recommendations from the Ministry of Health/Dental Council. We will try to see you as soon as we can, but there will be a backlog of patients on the waitlist to be seen. We may need to prioritise some patients in pain or discomfort first depending on urgency. ***Please note, as before Lockdown, we can only see:
healthy patients with no cold/flu symptoms (even mild), and
1x person per appointment. Only the patient will be allowed to attend the clinic (physical distancing). There will be some exceptions for children/or vulnerable individuals, to be discussed on the phone or outside prior to entering the clinic premises.
This is a really unsettling and tricky time for everybody, and we want to keep you all safe. Please bear with us as we navigate through the different Alert Levels and work through seeing you all again soon. Stay safe, look after yourselves and we will see you on the other side at our new normal. Drs. Inah, Lance, Young and rest of the Bays Dental team.