CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Our Health questionnaire and informed consent can be completed HERE

Y en Espanol

Dear Parents and Patients,

We have been thrilled to resume your treatment these past few weeks. We are a highly regulated profession, and we are following official guidelines. Our new office procedures can be found below. Thank you for your support.

PROTOCOL FOR APPOINTMENTS

Some general things to keep in mind:

We must do our part to open responsibly. This means that until COVID-19 is well under control, we will be significantly reducing the number of people that are in our office at any one time. Please be patient, understanding, and as flexible as possible during this time period.

REQUIRED SCREENING BEFORE ENTERING OUR OFFICE

In accordance with CDC, ADA, and CDA recommendations, we are screening patients before they enter our office, and setting up what medical and dental offices are calling “virtual waiting rooms” until we are directed otherwise. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we are following guidelines! To help maximize social distancing, we are asking that only the patient enter the office- siblings and parents should stay in the car. If a parent must accompany a young or anxious child, a child with special needs or a new patient exam, the parent will need to be screened also. Parents will be asked to stand or sit 6 feet away from our team members.


Anyone entering the office must be wearing a facemask, including the patient. Also, make sure the patient brushes their teeth before their appointment, as we have closed our brushing station temporarily.


Please arrive 5 minutes early and send the patient to our front door where we will have a team member conducting screenings. If she has stepped away, please call the office and let us know you have arrived.

SCREENING QUESTIONS:

Has the patient, their family, or anyone you or the patient has been in close contact with, been diagnosed with COVID-19?
Does the patient have a fever, a cough, shortness of breath, or trouble breathing?

We will then check the patient’s temperature with temporal (forehead), ear or infrared thermometer.

If the answer is “yes” to any of the above or your temperature is above 100.4 degrees, we will have to reschedule your appointment to several weeks out. If you know you are having any symptoms, please stay home and reschedule your appointment!

After the appointment is complete, we will discuss the appointment details with the parent or guardian while they are in their car, and will schedule your next appointment by phone, ideally before you leave.

Thank you for understanding all of these extra hoops to jump through! It is a time consuming, incredibly large change for us also, but we are following official CDC, ADA, and CDA recommendations for the health of us all. Please give me a call if you have any concerns with the above, we are always happy to listen. Your family’s health has been and will continue to be our top priority.

THINGS MAY LOOK DIFFERENT IN THE OFFICE

The CDC currently recommends using alcohol based hand sanitizer between patients, unless hands are visibly soiled which requires hand washing. We exceed the CDC recommendations by requiring assistants to sanitize every time they remove their gloves (even if staying with their same patient), AND to wash their hands in between every patient. Is this a bit redundant? Yes, but we have found that patients and families usually do not see us using the sanitizer (assistants often apply it in our sterilization room). We want to help not only make things more hygienic, but also more visible.

During this period of trying to contain the COVID pandemic, the CDA and CDC has issued guidelines for dental offices to re-open. Depending on the procedure, you will likely see us in a variety of facemasks, face shields, disposable gowns, etc… This is going to be a fluid situation as the virus gets under control, and we will adhere to suggested and mandated protocols. Please don’t laugh at us if we look funny! ☺

You may be asked to sit in a separate treatment room or notice that we are not using every seat in our open bay. This is to help with social distancing and limit the number of patients in the office at one time.

Please be patient and understanding with dental and medical professionals during this time. We have your family’s best interest in mind and are trying to protect you and the community the best that we can. At the same time, we are required to follow certain guidelines. There will be some who think that the dental and medical communities are “over-doing it”, but we would rather error on the side of being overly cautious at this time. This is what we would want for our own families, and so far the vast majority of our parents and patients agree and appreciate our efforts.

Please feel free to call us if you have additional questions.


Appointment checklist

Patient to be asked to fill out health questionnaire and informed consent. They can be completed HERE

Y en Espagnol