Blog Coburg Dental Group

Are you looking for safe dentist in Brunswick or Coburg?

At Coburg Dental Group we have an obligation to keep our premises as safe as possible for everyone.  This doesn’t relate to just COVID which is of-course, the hot topic for all of us. For example, we have designed our clinic to be free of tripping hazards.  We have installed a lift for wheelchair access.  We follow occupational health and safety requirements for our staff. You can see evidence of this in our sterilization area which you can observe from an observation window next to our front door. We are subjected to random Workcover audits from time to time. We use filters in our air-conditioners to provide fresh air and we use filtered water. And of-course, we have implemented a COVID-safe plan for our clinic.

We are happy to treat everyone-those that are double vaccinated which is the majority of our patients, and if not, those who will have a negative COVID PCR test or rapid antigen test which we are happy to do for you, prior to your visit, at your expense.

The reason for this policy is our requirement to provide as safe as possible workplace for our patients, visitors and staff so that we don’t transmit this awful COVID disease including the highly contagious Omicron variant, to those who may be vulnerable including our children and grandchildren at home who cannot be vaccinated at this time and our patients who cannot be vaccinated because they have a genuine medical exemption. Our premises, being a health-care facility which produces aerosols every day, is a particularly high risk environment so it shouldn’t be compared to a retail shop, restaurant, cinema or school.

Indeed, our policy is designed to protect all people exactly like yourself whereby you may not be vaccinated and could catch the virus in our work environment if we were careless or had not implemented our COVID safe policies.  We also see many children under 12 years of age as patients and many babies in our tongue tie clinic.  We have a duty of care to protect these vulnerable patients also.

This has nothing to do with the Victorian Government’s state of emergency, a health department directive, the chief health officer or politics.  It is a policy to protect us all including you and your family, as much as possible.

We are doing this because we care for others.

In order to determine your vaccination status, we will ask to see your vaccination certificate on the Services Victoria App on your smart phone. We will then record the details on your treatment record so that we don’t need to ask you every time you attend our clinic. If you are not double vaccinated (and if mandated, had a booster shot), you will need to show us evidence of a negative PCR COVID test result with the last 72 hours of each of your appointments or have a professionally administered Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) administered by one of our AHPRA registered staff, 30 minutes prior to each appointment. This test which we use, is different to the self-administered test which you can buy at the chemist or supermarket as it has a very high specificity and sensitivity, and the test is stored and undertaken in a controlled environment.  We will not accept a test which you have purchased or previously administered. We will also not accept a written letter from your GP doctor. (Unfortunately, we have had the experience of several potential patients producing fake documentation).

All of the information which we gather, including your vaccination status and results of any tests is kept in your dental treatment record and is strictly confidential as required by Commonwealth laws, Victorian State Government laws, the regulations of the Dental Board of Australia and the rules and ethics of the Australian Dental Association.

This information forms part of your medical history and can have a direct impact on your dental treatment. Similarly, we also need to know if you have previously contracted COVID-19 as this can affect the health of your gums in the long term.

Many of our patients, and visitors have expressed their appreciation of our policy.

The above information was current as of 1^st January, 2022 and may change subject to Government changes as advised from time to time.  We are certain that this policy will change as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 becomes more prevalent and the pandemic becomes endemic.

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 9386 1805 or email reception@coburgdentalgroup.com.au