Dear Patients,
We’ve missed you and sincerely 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 normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your health and safety.
As healthcare professionals, 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, you can rest assured that it is 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.
You will also notice some changes that we’ve made to enhance our infection control protocols. These policies go over and above the guidelines recommended by OSHA, ADA and CDC. We made these changes to help protect both our patients and staff.
- Appointments will be managed to allow for close control over the number of patients we are seeing in the practice at a given time, as well as the extra time that is required for our enhanced infection control protocols to be completed.
- Our office will be open only for patients with appointments. We ask that anyone accompanying patients to their appointment wait in the car. The exception to this will be pediatric, special needs or elderly patients that may have one parent/care giver wait in the lobby while their treatment is being completed.
- We have implemented an “avoid the waiting room” protocol. When you arrive for your appointment, please text or call us at our main office phone number and then wait in your car. When your provider is ready we will let you know.
- Upon entering the office, your provider will ask you some screening questions and take your temperature using an infrared thermometer or disposable temperature strips. Anyone exhibiting symptoms consistent with respiratory illness or with a fever (greater than 100.4 degrees F) will need to be rescheduled.
- Increased PPE (personal protective equipment) for our providers and administrative team. You will notice our clinical providers wearing gowns, scrub caps, face shields, masks and gloves at all times during your appointment.
- If forms must be filled out in office, we will ask you to sanitize your hands prior to completing paperwork
- Prior to dental treatment, you will be provided with a peroxide-based rinse which helps to reduce the viral load.
- During dental treatment, you will notice the use of high volume evacuation suction to reduce the production of dental aerosols.
- Medical grade HEPA air filters have been installed in all operatories
- A thorough disinfection/sterilization process is completed after each patient including the use of hospital grade disinfectant.
- For the protection of our administrative team, you will notice a plexiglass barrier at our reception desk. We also ask that patients text photos of their insurance cards and drivers license to avoid our team members having to handle these items. We also encourage “touch free” payment options including the use of our text to pay service or payments made via our website.
- All high touch surfaces (credit card terminal, door handles, reception desk, pens, clipboards) will be disinfected immediately after each patient.
We certainly 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.
Currently, we plan to resume normal office hours and routine care on Monday, May 11th, 2019. As a reminder, our office hours are Monday-Thursday from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm and we will also be offering limited Friday appointments (8:30 am to 2:00 pm) through the summer months.
Our team has been working diligently to reschedule appointments that were supposed to occur during the closure. If you are unsure of when your appointment has been rescheduled to, or you simply need to schedule an appointment please feel free to reach out to us.
We will be maintaining a list of patients who would like to come in for appointments sooner. If you would like to be added to this list, please send us a text or give us a call (864) 962-6787 and let us know your preferred days and times. As appointments become available, we will reach out to you to attempt to move your appointment to a sooner date!
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Kindest Regards,
Sarah Bayer, Office Manager
Cedar Bluff Family and Cosmetic Dentistry
officemanager@cedarbluffdentistry.com
(864) 962-6787
Cedarbluffdentistry.com