We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the past few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed one thing has remained the same, our commitment to your safety. Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and we want to tell you about the enhanced infection control procedures we now follow in our practice to mitigate COVID infections and keep patients and staff safe and comfortable.
Our office follows infection control recommendations and guidelines established by the American Dental Association (ADA), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agency's recommendations. You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:
- Our office will communicate with you via email before each appointment to provide a link which will allow you to go to our patient portal and update your health history and insurance information. You will be asked to use hand sanitizer and wear a mask in our office until you are seated for treatment. We will also screen all patients for temperature. Those reading 100.4 or above will be asked to reschedule their appointment.
- Paper forms have been eliminated from the office and registration will now be completed online prior to the appointment and all patients will check in using a kiosk in the reception room. You may be asked to wait in your car until called. If you have blocked our messaging/appointment reminder service please undo that at this time or you may be asked to reschedule.
- You may notice that our waiting room no longer offers magazines or children's toys as those items are difficult to clean and disinfect. Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients and that might mean that you're offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment. We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce your wait time as well as reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any given time.
- You will notice staff wearing an abundance of disposable protective gear. Special care will be taken to reduce aerosols produced during procedures and extra time is taken to thoroughly disinfect all operatory surfaces between patients. All staff has been OSHA certified to properly wear the N95 mask.
We look forward to seeing you again and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we have taken to keep you and every patient safe in our practice. To make an appointment please call the office at the number listed below or visit our website. We are also asking patients to follow our Facebook page for the most current information.
Thank you for being our patient! We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors, and friends.