Dear patients and friends,
We are now over two months into lockdown and the whole team hopes you are keeping healthy and well and managing to stay in touch with your loved ones regularly. We are still here at Market Place Dental Practice and missing you, our lovely patients, very much.
As you will know from our updates on social media, we are still being advised by our regulatory bodies to remain closed and await further guidance on when we might be able to re-open our doors.
Looking After Our Patients & Staff
The team have been working hard over the past few weeks to ensure that the practice is as safe as it can be when we do open up again. We have been relentlessly sourcing the personal protective equipment (PPE) that we feel will be needed in order to keep both you and our team safe when we resume oral health checks and dental treatment again. We have also been using our new-found free time to learn new skills and re-connect with our own community of dentists and their teams.
Keep Up To Date
Do remember that we are continuing to post regularly on our Facebook page, with oral and general health tips, advice on what to do if you have any issues with your mouth during this time, and team updates which have been helping to keep us connected and positive. Please do follow us!
Once again, we are missing seeing you every day and are looking forward to welcoming you back again very soon. The practice may need to operate slightly differently (and we may look slightly different in our PPE!) when we return, but we are the same team you have come to know at MPDP.
“Have your say…”
When the Practice reopens we will aim to see those people who have experienced dental problems during the closure, before we reopen for routine appointments.
This now gives the practice a huge opportunity to improve the ways we do things, as we will be starting all our diaries and procedures afresh.
This is where we would really appreciate your help.
Please let us know how, in an ideal world, you would like your practice to be.
What changes can you suggest that would improve your experience with us?
Now is a perfect time for us to implement changes, to improve things for you. No matter how large or small the suggestions, they will all be considered, and although foot-rubs in the waiting room may not be possible with social distancing, it may give us ideas for the future!
Please send any suggestions and ideas to reception@marketplacedentalpractice.com
Keeping your mouth healthy during lockdown and beyond
Keeping your oral health in tip-top shape is necessary if you want to keep your natural teeth healthy and beautiful for as long as possible. As we mentioned in our last newsletter, good oral health habits are linked to a high quality of life that is free from oral pain. A healthy smile is linked with good general health, with many scientific studies showing that oral health can help to prevent conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. There is also a lower chance that you will need to invest significant time and money into dental treatment in the future if you develop good habits now.
We appreciate that your teeth and gums might not be your top priority at the moment, but it is still vital that you look after them. Plus, you might even have a little extra time to spend caring for your mouth right now, which could bring huge benefits later on!
Clean right
An effective brushing and flossing routine is easy when you know your technique. Here are some top tips to help you look after your teeth and gums during lockdown:
- Brush your teeth for two minutes twice per day
- Use an electric toothbrush – the technique is easier to get right for more effective brushing
- Use a fluoride toothpaste to protect against cavities - beware that many ‘natural’ toothpastes may not contain fluoride
- Clean between your teeth once per day using floss or interdental brushes
- Order your new brushes or brush heads well ahead of time to allow for delivery delays and ensure you have them when you need them
- Take the time to check that children are brushing their teeth correctly and for the right amount of time. There are various free apps available to download that can help with this such as BrushDJ
Download BrushDJ to your iPhone or Android device:
It’s not just about cleaning
It’s not just your oral health routine that will impact the health of your mouth. What you eat and drink is equally important. Where possible, try to:
- Cut down on sugary treats or fizzy drinks
- Drink plenty of water, especially after snacks or meals
- Eat a balanced diet that includes all the nutrients your body and mind need to stay healthy. For your teeth and gums, these include calcium (found in milk and cheese), phosphorus (found in eggs, fish, dairy and nuts) and vitamin C (found in citrus fruits, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, potatoes and spinach)
- Chew sugar-free chewing gum after meals to help clean the teeth and gums of any food debris
If you have any questions about maintaining your healthy mouth at home, our team are more than happy to help. You can reach out to us on social media, by email or over the phone.
reception@marketplacedentalpractice.com
01285-652200
It’s not just about Oral Health
… look after your Mental Health too.
Lockdown guidelines have had a huge impact on mental wellbeing for people across the UK and the rest of the world. Social restrictions combined with concern for the health of our family and friends (and patients!) may have, understandably, caused anxiety and stress. To look after your health in these difficult times, it is important that you take a few moments to ensure that your mental wellbeing is in check.
Here are some ideas from our team at Market Place Dental Practice on what you can do:
Stay active
With restrictions on exercise and time spent outside the house now relaxed somewhat, make the time to get some fresh air and vitamin D. Just going for a walk every day provides a change of scenery and gets the blood pumping. Or, you could try something new – if you’re not a natural-born runner, consider the Couch to 5k training programme to get started safely or set up a running group on Strava so that you and your friends and family can motivate each other. Just try to get moving.
Keep in contact
Half the battle with mental wellbeing is talking about how you are feeling and seeking the support of others. Re-connect with a family member or call your best friend – it’s OK to not be OK, and sharing how you feel can often help to reduce the burden. It is also really important to stay connected to others, so check in with others to see how they are doing also. You could even combine this with a walk in the park– following social distancing guidelines, of course.
Eat healthily
Diet can have a massive impact on general health and mental wellbeing as well as your teeth. If you, like us, have over-indulged in recent months, don’t worry! Now’s the time to get back to a healthy, balanced diet that provides all the nutrients your mind and body need to function properly. Perhaps get the whole family involved in cooking a meal from scratch, or try a new recipe with fresh ingredients you might not usually use. Get inspired with some delicious plant-based recipes on the Deliciously Ella app.
We are still here for you
Our team are still here for you and have loved keeping in touch with many of you via social media and on the phone. If you have any concerns about your dental health, please don’t suffer in silence. You can reach us on easily using the usual channels and we’ll be happy to offer any advice or even just catch up!
Self-care tips for self-isolation and working from home
The 20-20-20 rule
After 20 minutes of screen time, you should spend 20 seconds looking at something 20ft away to rest your eyes
Shaking
Picture a dog shaking the water off itself! Shaking is good for helping with anxiety as you get out of bed or if you’ve been sitting at a computer for a long time.
Stamp it out
To quickly get out of your spiralling thoughts and back into your body, stomp your feet on the ground and make sounds such as “ haaaah” or “ aaaagh”. Picture a child having a tantrum!
Gratitude Diary
These can provide an impressive list of benefits in keeping a positive frame of mind, as well as improved sleep and more happiness.
The basic practice is straightforward, simply record five things you experienced in the past week for which you’re grateful. The entries are supposed to be brief—just a single sentence—and they range from the mundane (“waking up this morning”) to the sublime (“the generosity of friends”) to the timeless (“the Rolling Stones”).
- Don’t just go through the motions. Research by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky and others suggests that journaling is more effective if you first make the conscious decision to become happier and more grateful. “Motivation to become happier plays a role in the efficacy of journaling,” says Emmons.
- Go for depth over breadth. Elaborating in detail about a particular thing for which you’re grateful carries more benefits than a superficial list of many things.
- Get personal. Focusing on people to whom you are grateful has more of an impact than focusing on things for which you are grateful.
- Try subtraction, not just addition. One effective way of stimulating gratitude is to reflect on what your life would be like without certain blessings, rather than just tallying up all those good things.
- Savour surprises. Try to record events that were unexpected or surprising, as these tend to elicit stronger levels of gratitude.
- Don’t overdo it. Writing occasionally (once or twice per week) is more beneficial than daily journaling. A recent study found that people who wrote in their gratitude journals once a week for six weeks reported boosts in happiness afterward
Team News…
The whole team has been very busy improving our skills during lockdown, with numerous webinars and tutorials. We also have regular team Zoom meetings to keep the team updated and involved in the future plans for the practice. There is a lot of baking going on, and a lot of walking in our beautiful Cotswold countryside, and one Impossible jigsaw that is causing some grief! Nessa, is really looking forward to picking up her new Irish Setter puppy in a few weeks time.
For more regular staff updates, please follow our Facebook Page
We look forward to welcoming you back very soon, and remember if we can help in any way, please contact us.
Stay safe, stay healthy.
Market Place Dental Practice Team