How To Help Our Dental Practice Help You

Our Chelmsford dental team offers their advice on patient co-operation.

Dentists and their teams are highly skilled people. Not only have most spent many years at university, studying to enter the profession, but many also go on to do extra years of intense study in order to be able to carry out more complex procedures such as dental implant placement and endodontic care.

Contrary to the opinion of some, we don’t actually enjoy having to perform sometimes uncomfortable procedures, and like a doctor would, we would much rather that patients look after their teeth so that these procedures become almost redundant. Sadly, in this high sugar diet world, the likelihood of that happening is probably a long way off. There are though, many things that patients can do to help us, and in turn, help themselves.

General care

The most obvious thing that you can do is to take responsibility for your own oral health. This is a topic that we have covered previously, but essentially, and briefly, means eating a sensible tooth friendly diet and brushing your teeth effectively twice a day. Also using dental floss at the end of the day for better gum health and making sure that you receive regular professional care at Blue Sky Dental.

In addition to the essentials above, there are a number of things which will enable us to take good care of you when you visit our Chelmsford practice.

Please keep your appointment

We understand that there may be occasions when you need to cancel an appointment for a genuine reason. All we ask are two things. Firstly, do make sure that you re-arrange, preferably at the same time that you cancel. If you intend to do so a little later, there is always a chance that you may forget, or simply not get around to it.

Secondly, if you need to cancel and re-arrange an appointment, please give us a minimum notice of 48 hours wherever this is possible. This will allow us to fill that spot, possibly with someone who is in real pain with a toothache. We know that you would want a fast appointment if you were in this situation, so please be considerate and help others who may be too.

Arrive on time for your appointment

It can be very frustrating for your appointment time to arrive, only to find that the patient is not yet in the waiting room. In some instances, it may be possible to see the next person in line if they are there. This would mean that you would then have to wait if you arrive a little late. Sometimes, this ‘empty spot’ cannot be filled and you may lose your appointment and have to rearrange. If you are unavoidably going to be late, for instance, stuck in a traffic jam, please call us to let us know.

We also recommend that patients arrive around 10 – 15 minutes before their appointment time is due. This leaves time for any paperwork to be filled out. If you are bringing your child to see a dentist, this also allows a more relaxed environment which is likely to help the child feel ready for his or her appointment. Finally, rushing, especially in the hotter weather, can make it quite unpleasant for the patient if they are already flustered as they get into the dental chair!

Please tell us the truth

If we ask you if you are brushing your teeth regularly, please don’t tell us ‘yes’ if the truth is that you often miss it but you have given them a ‘good scrub’ before you came to see us, leaving your breath smelling ‘minty’. The same applies if we ask if you have been experiencing any discomfort or have any issues with your teeth or gums. Even if your teeth and gums feel fine on the day of your appointment, it is essential that you let us know if you have been experiencing any problems, even relatively minor ones.

We understand that you would rather not undergo a procedure, but, if there is a problem, leaving it and hoping it will vanish is not a realistic solution. Not telling us about a problem could well mean that you end up ringing for an emergency appointment in the not too distant future, when you are in pain.

Keep us updated

From an administrative point of view, the smoother things run, the easier this makes things for our patients. If you move house or change your phone number, please do let us know about it. In addition, although your dentist will ask you about any changes in medication or any ongoing medical issues, sometimes, and especially if you suffer from dental anxiety, you may miss something out when you are in the treatment room. This type of advice can be given to our efficient reception team who will record it on your records so that the dentist has the information to hand when you visit.

These are just a few simple things that you can do to help us run our practice more efficiently. This is not only of benefit to us, but for all of our patients too. If you need to contact us to make, or re-arrange an appointment, or to let us have new information about your contact details or medical condition, you can do so by calling Blue Sky Dental on 01245 211070. Thanks for your cooperation!