Edge Care Plan - update 23/10/2022

Dear Patients

Thank you for taking the time to read this email. As a valued Care plan patient, we would like to keep you informed of any changes we will be making in the upcoming months.

As you will be aware last year, we changed our plan provider from Denplan to our own Edge Plan. This has brought us some fabulous changes that gives us more control in tailoring the plans to suit your needs and we can make sure our plans are giving you the full cover you require.

We found that the scoring system used by Denplan that dictates which category a patient falls into is very outdated. It has been highlighted that advances in technology and materials are not properly reflected in this dated scoring system. Examples of this include the fact that there was no score allocated for a patient that may have a dental implant, and differentiation of amalgam (silver) and composite (white) fillings. We also felt the scoring system did not properly reflect today’s risk categories and moreover the guidelines on treating a patients gum health. We have made alterations that reflect these changes. For example, any restoration will be given the same points, and peoples oral health will be assessed in line with our examination checks and a score allocated for an implant.

Whilst assessing these changes we have noted that it has been a significant period of time since Care Plan patients had their categories re-assessed. Any additional work that has been carried out can obviously bring about a change to the original score when a patient was first put onto the plan. We will be extending the length of your next examination with us so this re-categorisation can be assessed and discuss any changes with you personally.

We wanted to inform you that this is not a one-way scale, and your plan can either go down or up in the categories as the assessment will now be based on your overall oral health. This means for some patients that may have started on the plan with a poor oral health score but have now improved their brushing techniques and maybe stabilised any gum issues over the last few years could now have a lower score, therefore bringing their overall score down. However, of course it can also go up if any additional work has been carried out, as mentioned above it will increase the score.

We have decided as a practice that we will no longer be offering the Edge Care Plan to new patients, but we will honour our commitment to our existing Care Plan patients. We will still be offering the Edge Essentials Plan to all patients, existing and new.

The Edge Essentials Plan is really blossoming as it is one of the cheapest plans around for the area for 2 examinations including a scale and polish per year including the worldwide emergency cover. With this plan we also include any small x-rays and up to 30% discount off any treatment required. We feel that for some of the Care Plan patients that are in lower categories, they may benefit from changing to this plan as it is cheaper per month and also, if there is no regular work that has needed to be carried out in the last few years, it would actually be in the patients’ best interests financially.

If anyone has any questions regarding this, please contact, and I will be happy to discuss this further.

Kind regards

Ritesh Aggarwal

 

COVID-19 Update - Published 13/09/2021

Hi All! Firstly my apologies for not updating this over the past months - things have been quite hectic with one thing or another. Let me bring you all up to speed!

We are still in risk alert level 3 and, to be honest, nothing much has changed with regards to delivering dentistry. We continue to provide all aspects of dental treatment whilst wearing the highest levels of PPE possible to protect our patients as well as ourselves. The practice is still a very safe environment due to the Covid measures implemented and we are seeing a high number of patients returning for routine dental treatment. We also understand that some patients still feel uneasy with attending and that is fine. Just please be aware that we are here and on hand to help in anyway we can should you need us.

We are pleased to announce that the patient toilet facilities are now available again should you require them during your visit.

IMPORTANT PLAN PROVIDER UPDATE.

Due to increasing costs of administration fees charged by Denplan we have taken the decision to switch plan provider to Lloyd & Whyte, taking affect from 01 November 2021. The Lloyd & Whyte plan is endorsed by the British Dental Association.

What does this mean for you?

There will be no real change to the plans that you have and it will be business as usual regarding your dental care. There are a few enhanced benefits to the insurance element of the plan given. This will be updated on our plans and prices page from 01/11/2021 once the changover is complete.

THERE IS NO NEED FOR YOU TO DO ANYTHING AT ALL as we have taken care of everything on your behalf alongside Denplan and Lloyd & Whyte. More importantly to yourselves, the biggest reason for the change was the fact that we can fix  plan prices until the end of 2023 at the current rates. This is great piece of mind with regards to your dental treatment during these uncertain times. One thing I must stress is that Denplan have been very professional and accomodating with this transition and I would personally like to thank them for the incredible service they have given me and the practice over the past 22 years whilst being a Denplan member. I will be very sad to leave them but also excited to be forging a new partnership with Lloyd & Whyte. If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us by email (info@edgedental.co.uk).  

We hope you enjoyed the Netheredge farmers market yesterday and we are sorry that we were not avaialble to attend. We will hopefully be back at the Christmas market in December.

In the meantime, enjoy getting back to some sort of normality but please stay safe and well. 

Take care

Ricky and the team at Edge Dental

 

So what does tier 3 mean for Edge Dental and our patients. Here's what you need to know...

 

COVID-19 Update - Published 04/12/2020

At the time of writing, the UK is coming out of the second national lock down and adapting to a new, stricter tier system. Sheffield has been put in tier 3 which means that we are able to remain open and provide dental care, but with significant changes to our normal operating routines.

So for now, we must all continue to play our part in trying to bring down the R rate. We will continue to use this page to keep you up to date with information about the measures we are taking and what you can expect when visiting the practice.

As we approach the end of 2020, let us all hope for better times in the new year. But for now we must remain dilligent and do everything we can to keep our patients and our team safe, and ensure we adhere to the current COVID-19 guidelines.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all our patients and their families a happy and safe festive season.

Ricky
Practice Principal

 

 

What to expect when you visit Edge Dental

Unfortunately, within dentistry, there is no real difference between risk alert level 3 and 4 so our new standard operating procedures remain unchanged for seeing patients. What this means in practice is as follows:

1. Increased time between patient appointments to stop any crossover and to allow for an even more rigorous clean down process.
2. The waiting area is not in use and unfortunately we cannot offer access to our toilet facilities.
3. Prior to your appointment you will receive a call from one of our team to discuss your dental needs as well as your health.
4. We will send you forms via email for you to complete and return via email (we cannot accept printed copies).
5. We will carry out checks before you enter the practice and then ask you to wash your hands and wear PPE provided by us.
6. We will be wearing extra PPE to protect you as well as ourselves – we are still the same friendly team underneath it all.

 

Jill's Retirement

Update - Published 23/08/2020

It is with a degree of sadness that we announce the retirement of Jill Round from Edge Dental. Jill has been at the practice since the early 1980s and was invaluable to us when I purchased the practice in late 2011. She helped us all transition and adapt to the unique way of working at Edge Dental. Jill herself has proved how versatile she is by adapting to the changes I implemented within the practice very early on. She was always on board with decisions, offering her opinion and advice along the way. The lockdown and new way of working seemed to be the perfect time for Jill to retire.

Jill has well and truly earned her retirement. She is spending her time looking after her lovely home and garden as well as taking trips to her caravan in Devon. I am pleased to say that she has been keeping up to date with her Continual Professional Development and also attended our latest training session. She is still registered with the General Dental Council and we are pleased to say that she will be available on an ad-hoc basis, if we need her, to cover any shifts. She doesn't get rid of us that easy!

We wish her all the best in the next chapter of her life and I am honoured to have worked with Jill and proud to remain good friends with a lovely work colleague and person in general. 

Good luck Jill x

 

We are sorry if we missed your call

COVID-19 Update - Published 03/08/2020

In line with social distancing policies we are running our service with skeleton staff. This means that there are only 2 staff members in the practice at any one time. As we are busy catching up on treatments etc we are unable to answer the phone if it rings whilst we are in surgery. We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause and it would be really helpful if you could email your request where possible, and we will do our upmost to respond in a timely manner. Please send emails  to info@edgedental.co.uk

We have allocated Friday as a dedicated administration day. This means that we will not be seeing patients on Fridays, except in an emergency, for the immediate future. We will still offer a triage service as normal for urgent dental needs. We will be available to answer queries by telephone as well as email and it will allow us to catch up on papaerwork and carry out the necessary administartion duties for the following week. It will also allow Karen to have a day out of the surgery and carry out her practice management duties. Karen has been amazing and she has worked tirelessly throughout this period to ensure the smooth running of the practice and we are greatly endebted to her.

 

Introducing our new Local Exhaust Ventilation System 

COVID-19 Update - Published 30/07/2020

In accordance with current guidelines we have to allow the air to settle within the surgery environment for 60 minutes following any procedures that generate an aerosol. This is known as a fallow time or a fallow period allowing for 6 room air changes per hour. This means that if we have a patient booked in for 60 mins we then have to vacate the surgery area for another 60 minutes. Following this, we can then re-enter the surgery to carry out the full decontamination process including mopping all the floors with a special chlorine based solution.This takes approximately 30 minutes to do and therefore we cannot see another patient for at least 90 minutes from when the previous patient has left the practice.

Due to the inefficiency this creates we thoroughly researched appropriate solutions and decided to invest in a Local Exhaust Ventilation System (LEVS).  This LEVS (pictured below) allows us to extract aerosol at source as well as creating 15 room air changes per hour within the surgery and 12 room air changes per hour in the decontamination room via a new integrated ducting system. This means that the air within the surgery environment is "cleaner and safer". It also allows us to reduce our fallow and cleaning time to approximately 45-60 minutes between appointments however we are continually working on solutions to reduce this time further. It is our intention to increase the efficiency of the practice as swiftly as possible whilst maintaing the safest and strictest protocols in the process of doing so. We are doing everything we can to return somewhere close to "normal" as fast as we can. Thank you for your patience during this difficult period.

 

    

 

Routine examination and treatment appointments now avaialble

COVID-19 Update - Published 20/07/2020

We have been working hard and we have carried out the majority of urgent treatment necessary. We have ongoing emergency appointments for those in need however we are now in a position to see routine examinations and resuming treatment plans commenced prior to lockdown. Denplan patients will be given priority as we wish to honour our commitments to them as soon as possible. I must stress that all our patients are important to us but we have ongoing commitments to Denplan patients who have continued to budget for their dental needs all year round.

Appointments will be given on a risk assessment basis to make sure it is safe for you to attend. We understand that people may not want to have “routine work” done or carry out any non-essential travel. That is fine but we wanted to let you know we are here for you either in person, on the phone or via a video consultation (we are all zoom-masters as a result of the lockdown). Alternatively if you have any queries please feel free to email us info@edgedental.co.uk