Happy Friday Everyone, can you believe its May! I don’t know about you but I’m enjoying the extra sunshine. It’s nice to get outside, play in the green grass, and go for walks. We are on week seven of the stay at home protocol, but looking forward to getting back into the office, once it’s safe for all of us. I’m sure many of you will have questions and concerns. We have added an entire page to our website with information based on our commitment to safety. www.parkerriverdental.net – click the COVID-19 link. I also wanted to take the time to inform every one of the steps we have taken, and will be taking to keep you, as well as ourselves, safe from COVID-19. These actions are incremental to our normal standard of care that meet or exceed all CDC, OSHA and ADA guidelines for dental practices. Our goal is to add peace of mind to the friendliness and clinical excellence you have come to expect. The next time you come to our office things are going to feel, and look different. Don’t worry, under all this new Personal Protective Equipment will still be your favorite smiling ladies of Parker River Dental.
Steps we have taken around the office:
1. Installed a simple but classy looking Hard Plastic Guard at the front desk.
2. We have added HEPA-grade filters and ionization units throughout the office.
3. Purchased Face Shields, Gowns, Masks, Head Caps, and a no contact thermometer.
4. Reviewed many videos and webinars on how to protect against COVID-19 in the dental office.
5. Reviewed PPE Donning and Doffing in detail, we are all properly trained with the advanced PPE’s.
6. Removed all extra items from operatories.
7. Installed Hospital-Grade hand sanitizing station upon entry.
8. We will not be using any instruments that create extra aerosols for the time being.
9. We purchased new suctions that will be used to decrease aerosols during cleanings.
10. Removed most of the chairs from the waiting room, as well as magazines and toys.
11. Updated our medical history to include COVID 19 pre-screening questions.
12. We have created a virtual waiting room to minimize contact with others, bypass the reception area, and go directly to your treatment room.
13. We will have an assigned staff member who is in charge of safety. This includes greeting patients, answering questions, ensuring social distancing, and overall monitoring. They will also be wiping door handles and surfaces between patients in community areas.
14. If you want to buy sonicare, toothpaste, or touch up whitening products, please call us and you can purchase over the phone. We will have them ready for you and hand out the door.
15. We love all of our patients but at this time no hugs or handshakes please.
Here is how you can expect your appointment to go:
1. We will call the day before and ask you a series of questions. PLEASE if you, or anyone you have been in contact with is feeling ill or been exposed, we ask that you let us know and cancel your appointment.
2. We ask that you wait in your car, call us to let us know you have arrived.
3. When we are ready, we will ask you to walk to the door, you will be greeted by our safety champion. They will take your temp using a contactless thermometer, have you sanitize your hands, then walk you to your treatment room.
4. Your provider who has gone through proper PPE training will have properly disinfected the operatory, removed all the PPE’s worn with the previous patient, performed a proper hand hygiene routine before setting up the room for you. They will then go through another proper handwash routine, and re-dress in their PPE’s for your appointment.
5. We will have each patient do a pre-swish with a 1% hydrogen peroxide before we start, please brush and floss at home before coming into the office as we will not have this as an option in the bathroom.
6. You will be required to wear eye protection, if you are not comfortable using ours please bring your own sunglasses or safety glasses.
7. We ask that you wear a mask, no gloves, and bring in only essential items.
8. If you are a parent: We are asking that if possible, you come by yourself.
9. Children Appointment: You can walk them to the door and If possible, we ask they come in by themselves. If you are not comfortable with this, we ask that just the parent and the patient come in. You will be brought back into the treatment room with your child for the duration of the appointment. Everyone must be wearing a mask, and eye protection (while in treatment room).
10. Multiple Children Appointments: If you have more than one child being seen; they will both be seen by the same hygienist to help decrease exposure by keeping all family members in one space. Again, everyone will need to be wearing a mask, and eye protection (when in treatment room).
11. If there is a co-pay for your appointment we will plan to ask for payment over the phone and if you need to pay cash or check we can accept that at the time of the appointment.
Additional steps our staff will be taking for everyone’s protection:
1. Daily our staff will have no contact temperature checks and a quick set of questions to ensure our team is ready, willing, and able to provide safe dental care- every day.
2. We will continue to change shoes, and into new clean scrubs at the office every day.
3. We have increased our personal hygiene protocol; along with short hair or pulling hair back; this means no long fingernails, no jewelry, and no watches for any team member while in the office.
We are excited to slowly open back up and see all of you. We know that many of you are excited to get your oral hygiene back on track and we appreciate that, but this is not a time to take risks. If you do not feel good, or a family member is ill, we ask that you reschedule your appointment. As I wrote in my last blog, please be extra diligent with your oral hygiene routine at home to make your dental visits easier and keep your overall health at its best. This is going to be a crazy time for all of us but we are in it together, one smile at a time!
Please check out our website for more information and feel free to email us with any questions or concerns you may have! www.Parkerriverdental.net
