How Safe Is Your Dental Visit In Burton?

At SG Dental and Implant Centre, we put patient safety at the top of our list of priorities.

Going to the dentist is routine for most people. There may be some apprehension caused by dental anxiety, but most people have their check ups and treatments with little more problem than varying degrees of nervousness. It is, however, worth remembering that dentistry is a medical profession and, as with any medical procedure, there are elements of risks involved. The key to minimising these risks is to be aware of them and to take action to prevent them from happening.

This is what we are going to take a look at in today’s blog. How can patients feel confident that not only will their teeth be treated but also why our Burton patients can feel confident that they are in good hands when they come to us?

Procedures and training

The most obvious area of concern to a patient is the treatment itself. It is understandable that you want to be sure that the dentist knows what they are doing. Naturally, prospective dentists don’t simply leave school and immediately start carrying out complex procedures like placing multiple dental implants.

Dentists have to be trained to a high degree with qualifications gained from relevant courses at university. Even after qualifying, they then have to be registered as qualified dentists with the General Dental Council (GDC). Not only do you need to have a degree here but there are other requirements too such as a proficiency in the English language and a ‘fitness to practise’ check. This includes issues such as your own health, any history of criminality etc. These are all taken into consideration before a dentist is allowed to practise.

Even with this, a dentist then has to undergo a year of practising where they are supervised during any procedures. After successfully achieving this, the dentist can then practise on their own, along with the dental assistant being present.

In addition to university training and ongoing experience, all of our Burton dentists receive ongoing training in order to keep up with new discoveries and treatments that occur as dentistry progresses with new technologies etc

Hygiene practices

One potential problem in a dental environment is that of cross infection. If a dentist is unknowingly ill, they could spread viruses to patients. Similarly, if the equipment is not cleaned then infections could enter the bloodstream during treatments and potentially cause serious issues.

You have probably noticed that dentists these days wear disposable masks and gloves for each patient which helps to prevent any viruses from spreading. The importance of this was highlighted during the recent Covid pandemic.

We have the latest sterilisation equipment at your Burton dental clinic and all instruments are thoroughly cleaned and gloves etc are all single use which greatly minimises any risk of viruses or bacterial infections from spreading.

All of our premises are kept thoroughly cleaned with the treatment rooms deep cleaned on a regular basis.

Medical issues

Anyone who watches or reads the news will be aware that, on rare occasions, even routine medical procedures can go wrong. In most cases, there is an underlying reason for this which was not known before the procedure took place.

This is one of the reasons why we ask you for up to date medication information and any health related issues each time that you visit. While most illnesses and medications won’t affect any treatment, this isn’t always the case. For example, if you are on blood thinning medication and don’t tell us about it, this can be a serious problem if, for example, you are due to have teeth extracted. Especially if a number of teeth are involved, it may not be possible to stop the bleeding and you may require hospital treatment. This can usually be avoided by letting us know of your medication so that we can put an action plan into place that enables you to have any necessary treatment safely.

The same thing applies to letting us know of any allergies. A latex allergy, for example, could be dangerous if you don’t let us know and the dentist wears the regular surgical gloves. You can be safely assured that any information that you give us will remain private and confidential and will not be shared with others.

As you can see, we take patient safety very seriously, not only during the treatment itself but within our practice generally. Naturally, all aspects of our premises adhere to the latest safety regulations and if you have any concern about any aspect of patient safety at our clinic, we are happy to discuss this with you.

If you would like to discuss this with us, or to book an appointment or make an enquiry, you can do so by calling SG Dental and Implant Centre today on 01283 845345.