FAQs
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Where & How We
Operate
Treatment
& Patient Care
Fees
& Payment
Your Roles
& Responsibilities
Emergency Care
& Out of Hours
WHERE & HOW WE OPERATE
Which areas of the country does your mobile dentist visit?
Our services will be focussed primarily in the Fenland & Peterborough areas. However, we welcome enquiries from other neighbouring regions or counties, as it may be possible for us to accommodate these requests on a case by case basis.
What are your operating hours?
Our office admin team can be contacted in core hours, Monday to Friday, between 09:00 and 17:30. All enquiries, pre-registration site visits, patient registrations and invoicing queries will be handled within these hours.
Our dental team are available for clinics between 08:30 and 17:30 Monday to Friday, as well as some Saturdays between 09:00 and 16:00.
Please also see our out of hours and emergency advice here.
Who qualifies to register as a patient of Mobile Dental Services?
Our service will be primarily provided to residents of care and nursing homes, within the Fenland and Peterborough area. Private domestic enquiries are also welcome, as we recognise that some of our elder community members, still living in their own homes, are also struggling to access this care as well. Please note, private domestic enquiries from outside of the Fenland or Peterborough may attract an increased 'out-of-area' call-out fee.
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All enquiries are welcome and we will try to find a solution that works for everyone.
What is your sign-up process?
We are keeping the process as straightforward as possible and in most cases, it can be concluded with the following steps:
1. You may call us, email us, or complete our online contact us form, to express interest in our services. Our friendly office admin team will handle your enquiry. Where patients are required to self-fund i.e. there is no allocated budget available from the care home, we will provide you with our promotional literature and sharable pricing list, which you can forward to the families and representatives of your residents, along with a letter of introduction to our services.
2. We will arrange a pre-registration site visit to your care home, to ensure that there is adequate space for the set-up of one of our day clinics. This appointment will also be used to discuss our terms of service, and to sign your service agreement, both of which would have been sent to you by email prior to our visit.
3. By this time, we should have an idea of 'take-up' numbers among your residents, so, if you are happy to proceed with the sign-up process, you will be left with patient registration documents, which you can complete and return to us by email to enquiries@mobiledentalservices.co.uk. These documents will include signed consent forms and full medical history for each patient. The consent form will relate, initially, to the cost of the first assessment only*.
4. Once all documents have been returned to us, our office team will process them and be in contact to arrange your first clinic, at the earliest available date.
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*Additional consent will be obtained for all recommended treatment BEFORE it is scheduled by our office team.
Can care-home staff register as patients as well as residents?
The answer to this question is covered here.
How long after sign-up can treatment begin?
The answer to this question is covered here.
HOW WE OPERATE & WHERE
Which areas of the country does your mobile dentist visit?
Our services will be focussed primarily in the Fenland & Cambridgeshire areas. However, we welcome enquiries from other neighbouring regions or counties, as it may be possible for us to accommodate these requests on a case by case basis.
What facilities does a care home need, in order to accommodate a Mobile Dental visit?
Our dental team come fully-equipped with all the specialist tools and materials they need to carry out the services we offer, including a portable examination chair, x-ray machine and necessary health and safety equipment.
All resuable examination is brought back to our registered premises for sterilisation.
So long as the care home can dedicate a suitably-sized room or private area for the duration of the mobile clinic, and adequate staff to oversee patient mobility to and from the clinic area, we should be able to work with them.
An initial assessment of the care home will be required as part of the standard sign-up process, which will allow us to iron out any potential issues at the earliest stage.
TREATMENT & PATIENT CARE
Can a mobile dentist really provide the same standard of care as a dental clinic?
Our dental team are equipped with everything they need to properly assess and treat patients in their own homes. While some treatments will require off-site resources (such as laboratories for dentures), the vast majority of treatment is achievable with our mobile facility. We expand on our equipment a little more here.
We have more behind us than just hi-tech portable technology however. Mobile Dental Services is born from a collaborative partnership, including the experts behind The Prior's Green Hive, who operate more than one well-established and busy clinic, out of South-East England.
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We only work with associate dentists and dental nurses who are registered with the GDC, and comply to the standards outlined by this regulating body on their official website: Information, standards & guidance (gdc-uk.org)
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Our commitment to providing great care is outlined in our Patient Charter (click the link to view)
How soon can a new patient start receiving treatment?
The first clinic arranged for any care home will facilitate new patient assessments only. Our dentist will then draw up and provide each patient with their own personal treatment plan.
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Providing the patient opts to proceed with the recommended treatment, a follow-up visit to the care home will be arranged as soon as possible. It will be necessary to organise the follow-up visits in a way that allows as many residents of the same care home, who require treatment, to be seen on the same day.
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If the patient chooses not to proceed with these recommendations, they will not be seen again until the next check-up clinic is arranged at your facility.
How many patients can be seen in one day?
This will vary based on the purpose of the clinic i.e. whether it is a check-up only clinic vs a treatment clinic.
Check-up only clinics: We estimate that between 8-14 residents may be assessed, with numbers closer to the lower of that range seen in the initial and more in-depth assessment delivered in our first visit, and closer to the upper-end of the range for follow-up, routine, check-ups.
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Treatment clinics: This number is subject to more variance, given the treatment each patient requires will differ. Appointments for each clinic will only be scheduled according to what is reasonably achievable based on each person's bespoke treatment plan.
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Additional check-up and treatment visits will be scheduled where the number of patients requiring an appointment exceeds this quota.
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NB. Care home managers should note our policy to charge an attendance (or call-out) fee, wherever 4 or fewer residents/patients would like to schedule an appointment for a clinic day. This is detailed in our Pricing structure. This fee does not apply where additional clinics are required for our dentist to see all registered patients, (e.g. 10 residents register for our services but capacity only allows us to see 8 in the course of our first clinic). We expect that these additional visit(s) will enable us to administer treatment to those who have already been assessed and wish to cooperate with their treatment plan.
Can care-home staff register as patients as well as residents?
We are primarily focussed on supporting those in residential care, however, consideration may be given to accepting care staff as patients, on a case-by-case basis. As our operation expands, we will be actively looking for ways to offer our mobile service to a broader demographic.
FEES & PAYMENT
How much do your services cost?
Our up-to-date pricing list is available here. Please be sure to select the appropriate heading (care home or private domestic) as there is a variance in the call-out fees that may be incurred.
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While we try to share as many prices as possible up front, costs in certain circumstances can only be provided on a case-by-case basis (such as where laboratory fees need calculating for denture work etc)
How is payment collected?
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No payment is collected on the day of our on-site clinic, or by our dentists or dental nurses.
Our office admin team will prepare and issue invoices, which will be due for payment within 15 days of the date of issue (to allow for postal delays and cheque payments).
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Where patients are self-funded, invoices will be sent either via the care home or directly to the patients representative (where they consented in the sign-up process to their details being passed on to us).
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Where the care home has a budget to allocate to dental care, they will be invoiced directly for payment and can make private arrangements for reimbursement, in the case of any patients allocated budget being exceeded.
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Available payment methods are: cheque, bank transfer, online card payment (where invoices are issued by email), and card payments over the phone. Mobile Dental Services account details will be provided on all invoices.
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What if the patient refuses treatment?
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It is the aim of this practice to provide quality dental care to all patients and to use clinical time effectively. To achieve this aim, we have the following policy:
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There is a fee of £55 for any appointments that are missed, cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice or in the case of a patient refusing any treatment. If the treatment is already taking place and the patient does not allow the team to complete treatment, we will have to charge the full amount of the treatment that was booked.
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We understand that cancellations are sometimes unavoidable due to illness or emergencies, and we take into account all valid circumstances. A new appointment will be offered at the earliest time available.
How are payment disputes handled?
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We are committed to providing as much information relating to our fees as we can, prior to any treatment being undertaken. Our standard prices are published here on our website and each care home will also be provided with a copy of our price list for onward sharing.
As part of the sign-up process, explicit consent for the completion of an in-depth initial assessment will have been provided by the patient and/or their representatives. Any subsequent treatment will only be carried out where further explicit consent for each course of treatment has been received.
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Given our clear and transparent approach to pricing, the majority of costs will be confirmed prior to treatment and we expect this to minimise any issues with the collection of monies owed. As such, our expectation is that any invoice be paid promptly, upon receipt, and no later than the due date.
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In certain circumstances, such as those requiring us to employ the services of a laboratory (dentures, implants etc) we will also try to provide indicative pricing and the final quote will be provided to you, for approval, prior to any order being placed externally. Where you have agreed for a laboratory to be engaged to provide a quote but choose not to order the final product, you will still be liable for their investigative fees.
YOUR ROLES & RESPONSIBILITES
What facilities does a care home need in order to accommodate an on-site clinic?
Our dental team come fully-equipped with all the specialist tools and materials they need to carry out the services we offer, including a portable examination chair, x-ray machine and necessary health and safety equipment. All reusable examination equipment is brought back to our registered premises for sterilisation.
So long as the care home can dedicate a suitably-sized room or private area for the duration of the mobile clinic, and adequate staff to oversee patient mobility to and from the clinic area, we should be able to work together. Our team will also need access to fresh running water and hand-washing facilities.
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An initial assessment of the care home will be required as part of the standard sign-up process, which will allow us to iron out any potential issues at the earliest stage.
What role do care-home staff play in maintaining good oral health?
All care homes must make sure that all of their residents' health needs are met; “oral health is still health” so is no exception. Care home managers have a responsibility to provide information about their dental care process to current and prospective residents & their families. All Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered managers are expected to take account of nationally recognised guidance. This guidance includes the following:
Care homes have a duty to ensure that all residents have an oral health assessment when they move into the home and the result should be recorded in the residents' care plan. The care home should be assessing the level of support they require with their dental care and establishing what dental aids they use and whether they have dentures or not.
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Care home managers must ensure all of their staff have the knowledge and skills needed to take care of their residents' dental care. They should be trained on how to judge when a resident needs their oral health reassessing, and how to support residents with their everyday dental care regime. For instance, they should know that they need to brush the residents' teeth twice a day, clean their dentures (if applicable) and how to use the residents' choice of dental care products.
Is there any training that Mobile Dental Services can provide care-home staff?
We recognise that supporting someone else with oral-health care may be an area of concern for some care staff, especially when challenges associated with cognitive impairment arise, perhaps resulting in reluctance or anxiety. Our expert team are keen to educate and support care-home staff, in achieving the best standards of oral-health care possible, and welcome the chance to discuss how we can best help you and your team, on a case specific basis.
Can you provide advice on managing oral-health for residents with cognitive impairments?
Conditions such as Alzheimer's and dementia are a growing concern in the dental field. An estimated 850,000 adults are suffering with dementia in the UK, and they may be affected with poorer oral health than those without dementia, due to reduced comprehension and ability to manage their own care.
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The Alzheimer's Association website offers some guidance on helping those in your care, to overcome some of the potential blockers to great oral hygiene.
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EMERGENCY CARE & OUT OF HOURS
What do I do in the case of an emergency?
We understand that there are times when you need to see an emergency dentist. Debilitating toothache, an infection, or a damaged tooth can all require urgent dental attention.
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All emergencies are handled in-hours, with our closest available appointments being offered according to the nature of the issue your resident is facing. Emergency appointments may be conducted remotely, via video-call in the first instance, to determine the next steps. This may result in a face-to-face appointment, onward referral or the issuing of prescriptions.
As we are not currently in a position to offer out-of-hours support, where it is genuinely felt that a patient cannot wait until our operating hours, take note of the following NHS guidance:
Only go to A&E in serious circumstances, such as:
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severe pain
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heavy bleeding
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injuries to the face, mouth, or teeth
If you're not sure whether you should go to A&E, contact NHS 111, who will be able to advise you.
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It is important to note that only residents who have registered with us and had an initial assessment, will have access to our in-hours emergency appointment. Residents who have not registered with and been assessed by us, will need to seek support through other channels.
KEEPING Y U SMILING
© 2024 FFN Mobile Services Ltd | Registered in England 12429950 | All rights reserved.
Mobile Dental Services is a trade name of FFN Mobile Services Ltd, and all services are provided in association with The Priors Green Dental Hive.