Maria-Elena Newcomer, D.D.S.

08/15/2020

The World Health Organization has recently released a guidance advising the public to postpone routine non-essential oral health care. However, the American Dental Association, and myself, believe that oral health is integral to overall health. Dentistry is essential health care because of its role in evaluating, diagnosing, preventing, or treating oral diseases, which can affect systemic health.

At the start of the pandemic, back in March, the ADA asked its dentists to hold back on everything but emergency work. Since then, millions of patients have safely visited their dentists in the past few months for the full range of dental services. With appropriate PPE, dental care should continue to be delivered during global pandemics or other disaster situations.

⁣Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, its both safe and comfortable.

Again, here are some changes we made to help protect our patients and team: ⁣
◼️We are heavily screening patients over the phone, and again when they come in to their appointment including temperature checks.
◼️It is a requirement to wear your mask entering the office and inside the office until told to remove. ⁣
◼️We will vigorously disinfect commonly touched surface (doorknobs, counter tops, pens, ipads, etc). Hand sanitizer will be available for use upon arrival.⁣
◼️The number of patients in the office will be limited with extended time between appointments to support patient distancing and leave extra time for air filtration and disinfection.⁣
◼️Pre-Treatment rinse prior to any aerosol generating procedure. (this has shown to be effective at killing bacteria and viruses for a short time). On top of that, we have added:⁣
◼️ 2 UltraHEPA air filtration units.⁣
◼️We have high volume suction equipment for our hygienist to minimize aerosols created during cleaning appointments (the treatment rooms already have this!)

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have. Call us today! (310) 515-5505

05/14/2020

Have you been watching the News lately?

New guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just days ago allow dentists to start seeing routine patients again, with several solutions in place to help make your next dental visit safe.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, its both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe. You will see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. Here are some changes we made to help protect our patients and team:

◼️We will be heavily screening patients over the phone, and again when they present to their appointment.
◼️We will take temperatures on everyone upon arrival and ask patients to sign a waiver confirming that they are symptom free.
◼️We ask to please come alone to your appointment. If you are needing a caregiver or assistant to bring you, please have them drop you off in the waiting area and then wait in the car. ◼️Please wear your mask entering the office and inside the office until told to remove.
◼️Hand sanitizer will be available for use upon arrival.
◼️We will vigorously disinfect commonly touched surface (doorknobs, counter tops, pens, ipads, etc). We have removed all magazines.
◼️The number of patients in the office will be limited with extended time between appointments to support patient distancing and leave extra time for air filtration and disinfection.
◼️Pre-Treatment rinse prior to any aerosol generating procedure. (this has shown to be effective at killing bacteria and viruses for a short time).

On top of that, we have added:
◼️ 2 UltraHEPA air filtration units. These units are individually equipped to filter a room size larger than our entire office 1x/hour.
◼️We have purchased extra high volume suction equipment for our hygienist to minimize aerosols created during cleaning appointments (the treatment rooms already have this!)

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.

Is it safe to go to the dentist right now? New guidelines have been put in place to allow dentists to safely treat patients who have been forced to delay needed care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

05/09/2020

Follow us for important updates regarding our practice. We’ll announce a reopening date soon! 😊

03/28/2012

Oral bacteria that escape into the bloodstream are able to cause blood clots and trigger life-threatening endocarditis. Further research could lead to new drugs to tackle infective heart disease, say scientists.

03/28/2012

Dental hygiene, long the domain of dentistry, has been delegated to a growing group of assistants, the office hygienists.

03/22/2012

Oral health has a major impact on overall health. Watch this video and schedule an appointment with your dental professional today! ©2012 Henry Schein, Inc.

03/21/2012

Poor dental hygiene behaviors in patients with congenital heart disease increases their risk of endocarditis, according to research presented at the 12th Annual Spring Meeting on Cardiovascular Nursing.