Co-owner of the town’s new dental practice, Chris Drummond, introduced himself to members of the Moffat and District Community Council last week.
He told them the official transfer will take place on April 4, if all things go well. However, they will not start seeing patients until April 12 due to “factors outwith our control”.
He added: “All treatment prior to covid will be available on the NHS. But I did want to highlight that there will only be one dentist working and we’ll probably have a bit of a backlog.
“Of course we’ll be seeing check-ups, emergencies and treatments but I wanted to make everybody aware that although there will be provisions there, it might take a while.”
Mr Drummond stated that they have one dentist at the moment but are actively going to be looking for another and a hygienist therapist.
He said: “However, dentists are like hen’s teeth, hence why we have this problem in the first place. It will be better than what has been happening recently. But we have to make people aware that there could be a delay getting to see everybody.”
When asked whether they will take on any new registrations immediately, Mr Drummond said “probably not”.
He added: “I think it would be unfair. It’s not to say that we won’t in the future. I think there’s always, from a business point of view, scope for new registrations when privately owned but that isn’t really our intention.
“Our intention is to focus on what’s currently on the roll. We would also like to, as I believe there is a number of people wanting to join the practice but without actually having the proper records which we’ll receive when the transfer is complete, I can’t have a proper answer for everyone.”
After the meeting, a spokesman for Moffat Community Council said: “It was good to meet Chris, who lives locally, and to see his willingness to engage with our community and to keep us informed.”
