Patient safety policies and procedures

Dear Patients, Friends, and Family,

I hope this letter finds you and yours safe and healthy. I know the past few months have been challenging for everyone; we are looking forward to a return to a new type of normalcy. We have officially been given the green light to re-open, and plan to resume seeing patients June 11th. While I have cherished the extra time with my husband and 9 month old, I have missed my patients and doing what I love each day.

Over the past three months, I have spent long hours researching how to best prepare our office for a safe reopening. My number one priority is ensuring the health and safety of our patients and staff. I’d like to share some of our strategies for keeping our office clean and safe for all.

Along with the strict sterilization and disinfecting protocols that our office practiced prior to Covid-19, the following will also be implemented:

• All patients will be asked screening questions over the phone prior to their appointment to ensure there is low risk of them having Covid-19. They will be screened once again at their appointment.
• Patients will wait in their cars upon arrival and call the office to prevent more than one person being in the reception area at a time.
• All patients will have their temperatures taken upon arrival and must wear a mask when checking in and out.
• Our staff will be wearing N95 masks or equivalents, gowns and face shields.
• In order to reduce the production of aerosols, special intraoral devices have been purchased to create additional suction. These devices have been shown to reduce aerosols by up to 90%.
• Any room in which aerosols are produced will be fogged with HOCl after use. This technique has been used by hospitals, cruise ships, and rental car companies as a mode of disinfection for many years. It has been shown to be extremely safe and effective.
• Additional time will be added to appointments to thoroughly clean from top to bottom and for staff to change in and out of appropriate Personal Protective Equipment.

If you have questions or concerns about any of our new protocols please feel free to call or email us. As we begin rescheduling appointments over these next few weeks, I ask for your patience and understanding. With three months of postponed appointments, it will take us a few weeks to call everyone; we will do our best to accommodate but may not be able to fit everyone in immediately -  especially for routine dental care. However, we promise to do our best to make sure everyone’s dental needs are met in a safe and timely manner. We look forward to seeing you all soon!

Jennifer Finney, DDS