All employees will be required to wear Personal Protective Equipment. (PPE)
This includes a mask, gown, gloves, face shields, hair and shoe covering.
Patient & Employee Protocols
Change in Appointment Confirmation Style
All patients will be called prior to their office visit in order to inform them of the mandatory protocols. This will require your patience and understanding as we explain new safety policies over the phone in appointment confirmation calls. We will also be enquiring of your current health status. Please inform us of any symptoms of not feeling well. Your honesty again will be required and appreciated.
We ask that new patients visit our website where they can access new patient encounter forms to have them filled out and ready for their visits to decrease time spent in reception area. We thank you in advance for your co-operation.
Dental Team Protocols for Office Visits
Modified Patient Check-In – Office Entry Restricted:
- Patients and/or their Parent/Guardian will “Check-In” from their car by phone upon arrival at the office
- The Patient and/or their Guardian/Parent will wait in the car until the office calls the patient into the office
- The patient (if a minor) will be escorted to the office door by the parent/guardian where they will be a “Hand-Off” to the dental auxiliary at the door
- Only the patient is allowed in the office. Spouses, friends caregivers and parents need to wait outside. They can assist patients to the front door and hand-off to Sanitization / Disinfection Technician.
- The Parent/Guardian will “Hand-Off” their minor child to the dental auxiliary at the door
- Proper Patient protection will be at the door for the patient to put on before entering the office.(Shoe Covering) Please try to attend dental visits with your own masks.
- The temperature of every patient will be taken with an infra red non-contact thermometer before entering the office.
- Patient must be cleared by the Office Administrator to enter the Dental Office.
Pre – Treatment Patient Interaction:
- A staff member from the office will escort the patient directly to the treatment area/chair (after hand sanitizer)
- Patients will be asked to do a pre-treatment rinse with chlorohexidine or hydrogen peroxide. Reports show that rinsing can reduce or eliminate the COVID-19 virus. These reports are not proof and more research is recommended. The reason to use an H2O2 rinse is that it will potentially kill COVID-19 in the mouth and is very low risk to patients. This added protocol makes for a great addition to your appointments and provides another layer of protection for everyone.
Patient Post Treatment:
- Upon completion of the dental service, the patient’s guardian/parent will be notified by phone to come to the front door.
The Patient will use hand sanitizer when leaving the office (They use it twice; arrival and departure) if needed (they should be wearing gloves)
The patient will be “Handed-off” to their parent/Guardian who is outside by the door and NOT in the office
If a payment is required, the patient will be required to make the payment before leaving the office
A follow-up appointment will be given at the time of payment or over the phone while the patient or guardian/parent is in their car.
Extending Appointment Times
Please allow 20 – 30 mins of extra time to allow for more “compassionate communication” from everyone in our practice to you, our patients.
We want to inform as we perform. Making you feel comfortable and safe is of utmost importance to us, and will provide the avenue to start slowly approaching our new normal in the dental practice.
The additional time per appointment not only staggers appointments to avoid the overlapping of patients, but also will be used to explain the use of our PPEs and also for the proper sanitization of areas between patients.