COVID-19 Precautions

COVID-19 is certainly a challenge to contain, but are dental office is working with new (OSHA Occupational Health and Safety Administration) and ADA (American Dental Association) guidelines to ensure patient and dentist safety alike.

Guidelines

OSHA quickly came up with several new guidelines to follow as COVID-19 became much more serious. We’ve been following their steps and implementing them within our clinic to better ensure the safety of all of our patients.

For instance, we’ve already developed several response plans in the event that someone in our office contracts the disease. We’ve got various and versatile plans in place in order to fill out spots in labor or to shut down if we don’t have enough staff on hand to both keep the clinic clean and carry out our normal duties.

Furthermore, we’re practicing basic infection prevention measures, like washing our hands even more frequently than before and encouraging everyone to stay home if they have even minor illnesses. This involves washing our hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water and using alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol content.

We’re also implementing additional workplace barriers; many dental offices are using transparent screens at their reception desks to prevent the spread of bacteria. Other practices we are following include:

• not touching the face
• covering coughs and sneezes in medically responsible ways
• avoiding contact with anyone who is sick

Sterilization

In addition to the above guidelines, our office is refocusing our commitment to safe sterilization of dental equipment. This involves sterilizing every tool that may come into contact with bacteria in order to prevent COVID-19 from affecting our operations as much as possible. Our sterilization techniques and regulations are well-vetted and sourced from organizations like OSHA and other dental practices across the country.

Other measures, like the barriers at reception desks, are helping us to maintain social distancing where possible and prevent the virus from spreading.

What You Can Do

You can do your part to keep us and your fellow patients safe by staying home if you suspect that you have COVID-19 or any current illness. We very much appreciate your patience as we work through this time and, again, apologize if your appointment was delayed because of the pandemic.

Our office is open to questions about our ongoing response to COVID-19. You can give us a call or use our website to ask about future appointments or inquire about the current status of your upcoming appointment, particularly if it’s been affected by COVID-19.