We all as a community have been through a tremendous amount over the past few months, therefore we are all looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety and health. As such, this is demonstrated through our commitment to clinical protocol and clinical excellence.

We are happy to say that all of our offices are now open! You can call to schedule an appointment. We ask that you please be understanding that in order to protect our patients from the COVID-19 virus, we are spacing dental appointment times and appointments will be slightly longer to allow for proper sterilization. We may have to in some cases reschedule previously made hygiene appointments to ensure safety.

 

Please see our new office protocols to protect our patients and our staff to make our offices as safe as possible, including the addition of a plexiglass divider at the front desk, single-use pens in sterilization pouches for filling out any forms and many other subtle changes to product all of us. Further, rest assured that we will test our entire staff periodically for this virus.

 

 

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice; we hope you have recognized this during your visits to our offices. Our infection control procedures are implemented so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we have always followed in our practices as well as those implemented in light of COVID-19 in order to keep our patients and staff 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 will follow the guidelines of these agencies and go even beyond their recommendations so that we are up to date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued.

 

You will see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. And while some of these changes may require slightly longer dental appointments and may be seen as unnecessary, we made these changes to help protect our patients and staff.

 

  • Everyone will be required to enter the office with a mask on
  • If you are not feeling well for any reason, please stay home.
  • All staff will have the proper Personal Protective Equipment
  • We have installed UV air purification systems in the HVAC throughout the office which will reduce potential exposure to COVID-19.
  •  We also installed medical-grade professional air filtration units in every operatory and the common areas designed to eliminate both airborne bacteria and viruses. These medical-grade filters have been proven to capture 99.99% of all particles as small as .007 microns in size. Coronavirus particle size is .12 microns.
  • We installed barriers at our reception desk.
  • We have installed special air suctions in each operatory that eliminates the aerosol during dental procedures.
  • COVID-19 sanitization protocol of treatment rooms will be done after each patient encounter.
  • We have hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the office. We will ask you to use the sanitizer when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and all over the office for you to use as needed.
  • We will ask you to email or upload any patient forms prior to your child’s appointment to minimize the time in the waiting room and minimize the time in our office.
  • All patients MUST wear a mask to enter the building.
  • Maximum of one parent or guardian can accompany a patient into the dental office.  If your child is old enough and mature enough, they can come into the office alone as long as the parent gives verbal consent and remains nearby in the parking lot.
  • Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you are offered fewer options for scheduling an appointment.
  • Our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, nor games since they are difficult to keep clean between users.
  • Please arrive at your appointed time, not earlier as the waiting room will not be fully available.   For most appointments, you will be escorted right into a treatment room. When that is not possible, we ask that you sit one of the designated socially distanced seating areas (which will be at least 6 feet away from any other patient that may be present).

 

As you can see, we are going above and beyond any protocol used to date. To that end, you must know that your “normal” treatment times will be slightly longer, even for the simplest procedure. We ask for your patience. All of this is done for your protection and ours.

 

We look forward to seeing you again and we are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we are taking to keep you and every patient safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office or visit us online at www.kiddsmiles.com and follow us for all of the latest updates.

 

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming you all back to KIDDSMILES.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dr. Michele Kaider Alstodt and the entire Staff of Kiddsmiles