I hope this finds you and your family in good health. We have been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to transitioning back into normal routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to our safety.
Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations. In fact, our sterilization procedures are designed to eliminate cross-contamination of infectious agents much stronger than the Corona virus, such as spores, HIV and Tuberculosis.
In addition to these stringent precautions, we have implemented the following changes to help protect our patients and staff:
- Our office will ask health related screening questions prior to your appointment
- We will take the temperature of each patient and any parent that enters our office using an infrared no touch thermometer. Anyone with a temp of 99.5 F or greater will be rescheduled.
- Taking the temperature of all staff members prior to the start of the day
- We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office
- To cut down on splatter, we will not use our tooth brushing stations and instead ask patients to brush prior to their appointment
- We have adjusted our schedule to see fewer patients during the day to help control any unnecessary waiting
- Public areas such as chairs, door handles and counters are disinfected regularly throughout the day and items such as magazines and books have been removed due to the difficulty to clean and disinfect
- We ask that if you or a family member have been sick, or traveled outside the US in the last 14 days, please call to reschedule
Also, in accordance with the ADA recommendations to allow for social distancing, we will be limiting seating in our reception room. Only one parent should accompany a child to their appointment. Please do not bring siblings or friends to the appointment. Adults and older patients should enter the office on their own. No family or friend can accompany the patient in the treatment area at this time.
If at all possible, wait in your car during your child’s appointment. You can call upon arrival and we will text you when we are ready to seat the patient. We can call and update you on treatment progress upon request. Additionally, our orthodontic assistants will be happy to escort your child to your car if you prefer.
We will continue to keep you up to date on any changes to the above policies. Thank you for your understanding and patients during this unusual time. Our first priority is always the safety and health of our patients and staff. We look forward to seeing our existing patients and enthusiastically continue to accept new patients into our practice. I am excited for the privilege to see you all again!
Sincerely,
Dr. McCabe and team
