Dear Current and Future Patients:

We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our lives in the “new normal.” While many things have changed as result of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.

Dentists have been practicing infection control for over thirty (30) years. This has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have noticed some of our protocols during your past visits. Our infection control processes are in place so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. 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 all recommendations.

We would like to inform you about some of the additional infection control procedures we are currently implementing in our practice.  You will likely notice these new procedures when it is time for your next appointment. These enhanced procedures should help us to better protect our patients and our team:

• Our team members will go through a screening process when they arrive to the office each morning. Any team member not feeling well will be asked to stay at home for your safety.
• Patients are highly recommended to wear their own mask to each appointment.
• Patients will be asked to arrive at least twenty (20) minutes prior to their appointment time for a temperature screening and to fill out updated medical forms.
• After checking in with the front desk, patients can choose to wait in their car until their provider is ready to see them. This should minimize patient contact and avoid a crowded waiting room.  Please remain in your car and call our office when you arrive for your appointment so that we can provide you with further instructions.
• Our office will communicate with you before each appointment to ask you some important health screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions once again when you arrive for your appointment.
• We will be checking your temperature with a temporal thermometer. As a precautionary measure, any patient with a temperature over 100.0°F will be asked to reschedule their appointment for a later date.  
• We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some hand sanitizer in the reception area and other places throughout the office for patient use.
• Our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to continually clean and disinfect.
• Appointment times will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. This may mean that you could be offered fewer options for scheduling appointments. We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
• We will be installing virus filtering air purifiers
• We will also be using enhanced Personal Protective equipment that help minimize aerosols during dental and hygiene procedures. 

We look forward to seeing you again. We are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice.

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.