03/15/2020
Dear Patients, Families & Friends,
As a member of your local community, we care deeply about the health and the well being of our patients, families and our team. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) presents a unique set of challenges for dental care providers that must be addressed. We wanted to let you know that we will be taking additional safety precautions to help reduce risk of transmission and ensure that our patients, families and our team remain safe. We will not be closing our office unless ordered to do so by the Federal, State or Local Government.
We recognize that some of these precautions may cause temporary inconvenience, but please be assured that your health and the health of all members of our community is our number one priority.
Changes that will be implemented in our office will be put into place immediately and will continue until April 12th unless modifications to this date are deemed necessary.
Our practice is turning into a patient ONLY practice. Only patients and (if necessary in the case of younger patients) one accompanying adult should enter the office. Siblings, grandparents, friends, etc. should remain outside in their vehicles.
For patients that are having a procedure that require you to have a driver. We will ask that your driver remain in the vehicle until your procedure is complete. At that time our office will call your driver to have them come inside so that instructions may be reviewed with them.
Patients will be asked to present for their appointments at their regularly scheduled time, not early. If a patient is early or late- please call us from the parking lot.
Completing your registration forms online prior to your appointment will help assure you are seen at your scheduled appointment time. If your forms are not done online prior to your appointment this could delay the time you are seen.
We understand that some of our patients may be hesitant to sit in a waiting room. You may call our team and let them know you have arrived. If a treatment chair is ready, they will instruct you to come in. If not, our team will call you when ready.
If you have traveled outside of the country recently or have been in contact with someone that has we ask that you please reschedule your appointment.
If you or a family member has recently been sick with a fever, cough, or shortness of breath we ask that you please reschedule your appointment.
Environmental Cleaning & Disinfection Policy: Our policy and procedures have not changed due to the Coronavirus. We have always used CDC and OSHA-mandated cleaning and disinfection protocols for all surfaces in our office and treatment rooms. We use a bactericidal, virucidal, fungicidal and tuberculocidal disinfectant recommended for dental operatories.
Universal Precaution Policy: Our policies and procedures regarding universal precautions have not changed. Universal precautions are an approach to infection control to treat all human blood and certain human bodily fluids as if they were known to be infectious for HIV, HBV and other bloodborne pathogens, (Bloodborne Pathogens Standard 29 CFR 1910.1030(b) These precautions include:
Hand Hygiene
Barrier protection with personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and eye protection
Ultrasonic cleaning and sterilization of all non-disposable instruments.
We want to thank you for your understanding during this unprecedented time. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call our office and we will be happy to discuss further.
Sincerely,
Dr Rick Lindley DDS FICD
