Our community has been through a lot over the last few years, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.
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, it’s 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.
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. We have taken additional steps above and beyond the governing recommendations including upgraded sterilization equipment, additional personal protection equipment for our staff, and installing Surgically Clean Air, HEPA and UV light air filtration systems in each room.
Each of our rooms have been outfitted with a Surgically Clean Air Jade filtration unit. The Jade air filter rotates 400 cubic feet of air/minute in the room. That means the air in the room is being continuously cleaned 25x hr through a UV light and Hepa filter capturing particles down to 0.01 microns in size. To read more about our air filtration units you can go to www.surgicallycleanair.com
Our staff are wearing Level 3 masks and face shields. We are encouraging staff to stay home and seek medical care if not feeling well or running a temperature. Our surgical gowns are professionally laundered and changed between each patient.
The operatories are wiped with a CDC recommended disinfectant that kills Covid-19. The bathroom and common spaces are disinfected between each patient use as well.
- We have also made changes in our work flow to help protect our patients and staff.
- Please let us know if you have any Covid symptoms or have been in contact with a Covid+ person before coming to your appointment.
- We are requesting that you text us on arrival to your appointment to let us know you are there. Feel free to wait in your car or in our waiting room. Whatever is more comfortable for you. If you need to speak to the front office staff you can wait at the window or ring the bell if they don’t see you.
- We have hand sanitizer available for your use.
- As mandated by the CDC in medical and dental practices, please wear a face mask into the office. If you do not have one, we will provide one for you.
- At this time, we are requesting any accompanying guests, including parents, caregivers and guardians, remain in the car. This is being done for everyone’s protection and health. We will be happy to make exceptions for children and elderly who need direct care from their guardian during their visit.
- Please feel free to wear your mask while in the room until we are ready to start your procedure.
- At the end of your hygiene and restorative appointment we will escort you to the front desk to check out.
We are encouraging our team to get vaccinated as soon as the shots become available to them, and we are committed to providing a safe environment for both our team and our patients.
However, even though our team members might have the ability to get vaccinated at this time, that’s not the case for most of our patients. In addition, public health experts caution that even someone who has been vaccinated could still potentially transmit the virus to others.
Therefore, we’re continuing to wear all necessary PPE and following CDC guidance to minimize the potential virus spread at our practice. That means we will continue to maintain the same health and safety protocols that have been in place throughout the pandemic, and we’re updating our efforts whenever the CDC releases new information.
We have made it as easy as possible for our team members to access the vaccine. However, their medical information is private, so unfortunately we can’t disclose anyone’s vaccination status.
Thank you for choosing to be our patient! We value your trust and loyalty and are committed to do everything we need to do to safely continue taking care of you during these challenging times.
Sincerely,
Drs. Gottfried, Mann, and Scott and our amazing Team