Gentle Dental in Salisbury Christmas tree trail

It certainly didn’t feel terribly clever to leave the dental practice and head out around Salisbury on a very cold evening,   inappropriately togged out as we’ve had such mild weather, to kick start the festive feeling.   

Madness it may have been but it has certainly worked to get the Christmas spirit going.  The Christmas tree trail is beautiful with one of the 12 days of Christmas themed on each tree and it takes you on a wonderful journey around the town to see Salisbury in all of its splendour.  The only thing missing was a mulled wine to warm us up on the way.

I have to admit to being slightly surprised to find Wiltshire was in tier 2 as, to my knowledge, the R rate here has been consistently fairly low.  We have taken time after the announcement to trawl through the updates from the various bodies that regulate us and are happy to tell you that dental practices can remain open and offering treatments, as long as the correct PPE is used and correct procedures are followed. So Gentle Dental will remain open for you and provide all of the dental services you would expect from us.

Which leads me on quite nicely to Christmas closure.  The dental practice will be open until lunchtime on Wednesday 23rd of December and we are reopening on Monday January 11th.  We are very aware of our responsibilities in ensuring the safety of both you, our wonderful clients and our amazing team.  With the guidance allowing mixing over the Christmas period we feel the way to guarantee we keep everyone as safe as we possibly can is to allow 14 day period after this before we return to work.  That way we can all see our families (very excited that Saoirse can return from Uni for a few days) and return to work confident that we have minimised the risk to others as much as we possibly can. 

Please be reassured that Rob will be available should you have toothache or just require dental advice.  It is worth reminding   you that as a member of the dental practice (Practice Plan) you do have emergency cover so if we did need to open the dental   practice for you the fees are covered by your membership.  If you are not on our membership and want to find out how to join   so you have the reassurance of emergency cover just contact the reception team who will be happy to help.

The hand and surface disinfectant is proving very popular and we do now have more in stock.  We hadn’t quite anticipated the demand but we are on it now!  We are stocking:

• 100ml hand disinfection spray bottle - perfect for pocket or handbag and so much kinder to your skin than the alcohol-based ones. We use this several times for each client and only have to refill it about every 2 weeks so a little goes a long way.
• 500ml perfect for door handles and surfaces as well as a handy way to refill your hand disinfectant bottle 
• 500ml bottle refill – We are happy to top up your bottle from our large containers when you run out.
• 5litre container if you fancy just having your own ready supply for refills. 

Although we are working to an ‘only attend for a booked appointment’ policy we are more than happy for you to call and arrange a time to pop in for refills etc or indeed supplies of TEPE brushes etc.  We would appreciate a heads up so we can arrange a time for you to arrive which does not coincide with the arrival of other clients.

Finally, a call to you all to ask you to shop local this Christmas and support your indies.as much as you can.  A quote I recently heard from one independent shop owner "To you it may be just shopping...to us it means everything".  Many of these shops have invested heavily during lockdown and are offering online browsing as well as a click and   collect service.  And if you are giving vouchers/gift cards to family and friends this Christmas perhaps you could consider   buying the Salisbury gift card which can be spent in many of the independent shops around town.  To find out more   follow the link to the Salisbury Independents website and more info can also be found on the Salisbury Bid website.   

We hope you continue to stay safe, well….and sane and we will  be in touch with you again before Christmas.

Niamh, Rob and the Gentle Dental team.