03/16/2020
Dear Friends,
We wanted to reach out to you to let you know how we are responding to the current situation. At this time, until further notice, we continue to be open however, your health and safety will always be our top priority. We will continue to follow all guidelines that come from any regulatory or government bodies and if any change is made to our hours of operation, we will communicate immediately.
We practice all CDC and OSHA standards of infection control on a daily basis, even prior to this virus. As a result, a dental office that follows all guidelines is one of the safest places to be during this outbreak. However, we have taken some additional steps as follows:
• We are asking each patient if they have been out of the country for the last 30 days or have been in contact with anyone that has been. If so, we kindly ask that they stay home
• If they are showing any symptoms of a viral illness, however minor they may be, we are asking that they stay home
• Our team will not be shaking hands with anyone and while our friendliness of the team permeates through our culture and we show that by gestures like shaking hands, we will be avoiding any contact without gloves
• All patients are asked to wash their hands before treatment and after treatment with soap
• We will bring patients to the operatory as soon as possible. We ask that only patients come in the office for their appointments if possible. Parents are welcome to come with children that have appointments.
Our normal daily operations have always included:
• All surfaces in the appointment room, including the dental chair, dental light, and all drawers and countertops have been cleaned and decontaminated.
• Non-disposable items such as forceps, scalpels, scalers and surgical burs are all sterilized after each use using either pressurized steam (auto-claving), dry heat, and heat/chemical v***r. Also, all dental tools that come in contact with mucous membranes, but do not pe*****te soft tissues (like mirrors and reusable impression trays), are either sterilized in the above manner, or disinfected using high-level "sterilant/disinfectant."
• Lastly, needles, gloves and masks are all considered single-use, and as such are disposed of as would be expected.
We will be happy to offer you a tour of our infection control procedures. With that said, we understand that should you choose to reschedule your appointment to a later date once life gets back to normal.
This is an unprecedented time for everyone and we sincerely hope and pray that life returns to normal. Until then, as healthcare providers, we want you to know that you can depend on us during this time.
