To Our Patients,
We hope you and your family are in good health. Please know that due to social distancing requirements, we have limited staff and less appointment availability than usual. We thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.
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 as you may have seen during your visits to our office. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow to keep patients and our team 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.
Here are the protocols we are following based on current recommendations of the ADA, CDC and OSHA:
- Our office will ask some screening questions prior to scheduling your appointment. You’ll be asked these same screening questions again and have your temperature taken when you arrive in our parking lot. Parents or guardians who accompany their child into the office will undergo the same screening procedures.
- To help us adhere to social distancing requirements, we ask that only the patient with a scheduled appointment enter the building. If necessary, one parent/guardian can accompany the patient into the office, but no siblings are allowed at this time.
- All patients and accompanying parent/guardian are required to wear a mask or cloth face covering to enter the building. Please understand that we are unable to provide face masks to patients as we have a limited supply due to limited availability.
- We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use prior to entering the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
- We have removed magazines, coffee and iPads from the reception area as these items are difficult to keep disinfected throughout the day.
- Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
- Use of the office brushing sinks will be restricted. We ask that patients thoroughly brush their teeth at home for a minimum of 2 minutes prior to their appointment.
- We have strict COVID-19 employee screening procedures in place prior to employees being allowed to enter our facility each day.
We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. We value your trust and loyalty and are excited to welcome back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Dr. Elliott and Team