The New Normal
We hope that everyone and their family has remained healthy and well during this tough time! We appreciate the support from all of our wonderful families and have missed taking care of you.
We are excited to be back and wanted to review the following changes to our office routine to best ensure the health and safety of our patients and their families:
Before Your Appointment
Our office will call you two days before your appointment to ask the COVID-19 screening questions and review what to expect at your child’s upcoming visit. Please stay home and cancel your child’s appointment if anyone in the house has a fever, cough, flu-like symptoms, GI symptoms, a loss of taste or smell, or has been around anyone with COVID-19.
Please remind your child to use the restroom before coming to the office. Our bathroom is available if needed and it will be disinfected between uses.
During Your Appointment
We ask that you come 15 minutes early to your child’s appointment. Once you arrive in the parking lot, please stay in your car, and call us at 908-340-4848. We will ask you the screening questions again and review the plan for your child’s visit.
A team member will come out and meet you at your car, take the temperature of anyone entering the office, dispense hand sanitizer, and escort you directly into a treatment room.
If your child is able to and old enough to come to their appointment on their own, we ask that you and your family members wait in your car to reduce the amount of people in the office. Additionally, only children with a scheduled appointment and one parent may be allowed in the office. If there are other children without an appointment that must come with you to the visit, the child having the appointment can come in, and the parent and other children without appointments may wait in the car. Normally everyone is always welcome, but for now, this is what the CDC and state board have mandated. Thank you for understanding.
Everyone entering the office must wear a mask. Any face covering such as a mask, scarf, or bandana is fine as long as it covers the mouth and nose.
Appointments will be staggered to allow for social distancing between patients.
After Your Appointment
Once the appointment is complete, a team member will check you out and schedule your next appointment over the phone.
Tele-dentistry or a virtual dental appointment through Zoom or Apple FaceTime may also be offered for special circumstances.
Office Safety
Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice. Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We will continue to follow our strict disinfection guidelines to keep our office as safe as possible for our patients.
Clean Air
Medical-grade, six stage air purification units are located throughout the office. The air filtration process removes particles such as odors, gasses, mold, allergens, and viruses resulting in clean and pure air. The air purification units capture particles down to 0.01 microns (coronavirus is 1.25 microns) and removes 99.998% of particles with UV-C and HEPA filtration for surgically clean air.
Sterile Surfaces
All office surfaces have been treated with a special anti-microbial coating, the same used for MTA transit systems, so that bacteria and viruses cannot live on surfaces. It is a physical, not chemical, barrier that is invisible to the eye. It contains molecules that stick straight up, like a layer of pins pointing up, and prevents bacteria and viruses from living on surfaces.
Disinfection
Once cleaned, treatment rooms are fully disinfected with an ultra low volume cold fogger with electrolyzed water. Electrolyzed water is 100xs more effective against bacteria, bacterial spores, viruses, and fungi than bleach. It is a cleaner and hospital grade disinfectant that kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria with zero toxic chemicals.
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 your family safe in our practice. To make or reschedule an appointment, please call our office at 908-340-4848!
