News

(we do not charge extra for any of this)

With all the additional Covid-19 measures Dental Practices in the UK have to conform to, we are doing everything we can to continue to look after the Dental Health of our valued Patients, to the highest standards possible, with their utmost safety and health in mind, including :

• Patient Triage
  Patients are phoned before their appointment, to ask some Covid-19 related questions.
  We aim to not bring any Covid-19 into the Practice, to protect our Patients and staff.
• Entry & Exit
  Please enter from the Rear door, straight into the Waiting Room. Exit via the front door.
  We ask that you arrive wearing a Face Covering (we can give you one if you don’t have one), and use the provided Hand Gel to disinfect your hands. Do not arrive early, to minimise time in our Waiting Room.
• Social Distancing measures in place
  We have reduced the number of surgeries, to just two available at any one time.
  This means you should not be sharing our waiting room (for long) with more than one patient, if at all.
  We have installed glass panels at the Reception Desks
• Lateral Flow Tests
  All our staff carry out Lateral Flow Tests twice a week to ensure we are Covid-free
• PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)
  Our Reception staff wear masks
  Our Dentists, Hygienist and Dental Nurses all wear masks and visors when seeing patients
  Our Dentists, Hygienist and Dental Nurses all wear special respirator hoods and gowns, when treating patients with aerosol generating procedures (eg. use of our drills or scalers).
  Your dental treatment is the same as before, we just wear more PPE !
• Ventilation
  To rapidly remove any dental aerosols, and make the surgeries safe to use again, after each treatment :
  We installed additional, powerful extractor fans, increasing ventilation to 15 (or more) Air Exchanges per Hour (the UK & Scottish Government Covid-19 recommendations is 10 Air Changes per Hour).
  We installed special grills in the surgery doors to allow fresh replacement air to enter the rooms.
• Decontamination
  Cross Infection Control has always been extremely important, even before Covid-19.
  After Dental treatment, the surgery is left with the extractor fans still on, continuing to remove the last remnants of dental aerosols in the air. The surgery remains unused for a minimum of a 20 minutes “Fallow Time” after treatment creating aerosols has stopped. Only after that point, is it deemed safe for our skilled, trained & GDC registered Dental Nurses, to thoroughly clean and decontaminate the room.

This “Fallow Time” when the surgery cannot be used is a major issue for many Dental Practices if they don’t have spare surgeries to move into – and this seriously reduces the number of patients they can see in a day. However, at the JLR O’Donnell Dental Practice, we do have spare surgeries and are not so affected by these measures. We also have sufficient spare staff to have the surgeries ready to use again, by the time we need them.

Much has changed in Dentistry since James LR O’Donnell first opened up the Practice to patients on Tuesday 17th November 1970. The aim has always been to provide the highest level of care to our Patients, and their families. Some of our patients are still coming to us since that first day and bringing their next generation of families with them too !

We continue to look at improving everything that we do, keeping abreast of all the latest developments in Dentistry and surround ourselves with the best staff to help us be the best we can be, for the benefit of our valued Patients.

Please consider joining one of our Dental Plans – and discuss with us which Plan might be most suitable for you and make Private Dentistry more affordable.

We welcome new patients to our Dental Practice – just phone us or email for a friendly New Patient Consultation. We are used to patients being nervous and not knowing the costs involved. We will always carry out a thorough Dental Examination, discuss any issues found with you, discuss your options AND provide a written Treatment Plan and Estimate, based on what treatment you prefer to have. Dental Treatment only commences when YOU are happy to begin.

After all the Covid-19 Lockdowns and Restrictions, we started back seeing and treating Patients, in July 2020. We have a wealth of additional new measures in the Practice to make sure your visit to us is entirely safe, so that we can still provide high quality Dentistry to you and your family.

If you would like more information on our Covid-19 measures to protect you when visiting us, click here

NB We do not charge extra for PPE

Regular brushing of your teeth and gums removes the food debris which causes disease and helps to protect you from subsequent problems. Here are some important tips to help you maintain your dental health in these difficult times.

Cancer Research has just published new figures showing that men are more than twice as likely to develop oral cancer than women; 5,300 men to 2,500 women. In addition , it is often diagnosed in younger men of ages between 45 to 59 years.

Nine out of ten cases are preventable if people cut their risk by reducing their alcohol intake and cease smoking. Regular visits to our Practice will allow your Dentist to find anything out of the ordinary at the dental health exam appointment and immediately commence remedial treatment either by ourselves or by referral to Specialist help.

We do not find serious problems very often but your Dentist can save your life, if you come to see us, so that we can help you with our specialised knowledge and experience.

Research by King’s College, London and the University of Southhampton showed that gum disease is associated with an increase in cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease, possibly due mechanisms linked to the body’s inflammatory  response.

The inflammatory molecules , which have been associated with an elevated risk of other outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, can be reduced to a level closer to that seen in a healthy state, by effective gum treatment by the Hygienist or Dentist.

Without being too much of a kill- joy, research has also shown that the modern habit of drinking coffee and tea – on average four cups per day - with one in three British adults adding sometimes two to three teaspoonfuls of sugar to their drink, increases seriously , the frequency of acid attack on the teeth.

Each teaspoonful contains 4g of sugar whih means that four cups of tea or coffee per day, with just one teaspoonful of sugar, could in itself make up half of a person’s daily recommended sugar intake.

Information courtesy of the Oral Health Foundation.

After a work-out, dehydration can develop reducing the protection saliva in the mouth gives to teeth.

Then, the fashion to “ refuel” with so called sports drinks adds to the acid attack on tooth enamel. Many of these have a pH or acid value of 2.4 to 4.5. Regular dental health exams enable any dental erosion to be monitored and specific advice given to help prevent any future damage .

Recent Research findings from Pharmacyoutlet of 2000 UK adults showed that 18% admitted to being aware of their bad breath but 80% of them left this untreated, sometimes placing strains on their relationships.

Others said that bad breath would put them off asking potential partners for a second date. In the majority of cases, we can help our Patients to treat and eliminate this.

The earlier young children attend their Dentist - we advise from one year old - the earlier any potential problems are seen, thus preventing children having to go through the trauma of operative dentistry or even having to have teeth extracted, under a general anaesthetic.

The other main advantage is that they are helped by our people to be happy in our Dental Practice and even to look forward to coming!

Figures published by the Royal College of Surgeons showed that only 20.2% of  one to two year old children visited the Dentist and in England , last year, there were 9,220 tooth extractions from children in hospital, with all the pain and distress that caused.

We welcome and look forward to seeing children, of all ages in our Practice.

Most people recognise the need to visit their Dental Practice regularily - but how often ?

Every six months used to be the advice, the problem is that some dental disease creeps up, causing no pain and is not easily noticed or even sensed.

We advise that the best way to prevent dental disease is for you to come to see us as frequency as advised by your Dentist.

Three monthly or six monthly or annually or for a few Patients, two yearly, might be enough. Sometimes, the less frequently people attend, the easier it is to forget to make an appointment and thereby lose the benefits of regular visits.