You will notice some changes at any upcoming appointments. You might not be seeing the smiles of those that greet you, as they may be wearing a mask. You will be asked to wash your hands and use hand sanitizer upon arrival. It will be helpful if you arrive on time (not early) to prevent overlapping appointments and come alone when possible. We are happy to check you in by text if you prefer. You are also welcome to wait in your car and we can text you when you should enter the building. We are not allowing any team members with respiratory symptoms to come to work and we ask that you reschedule your appointment if you or your family is dealing with sickness or respiratory issues. You won’t see magazines and we won’t be shaking your hand or giving out hugs (for now). The coffee bar will be shut down. And we don’t want you to feel offended if you see us disinfecting pens, door knobs, etc behind you. We will have done this after the patient ahead of you too.
We aren’t afraid to provide dental care to you because we use universal precautions every single day on every single patient. That means we treat all patients as if they have the flu, a cold, HIV, Hepatitis or other transmittable diseases at every visit. We use the measures recommended by OSHA and the CDC at every single appointment. We do this to keep you safe and our team safe. For years we have had immunocompromised patients swish with an anti-microbial/anti-viral rinse before treatment. During this time of crisis we will have every patient rinse with this before any and all treatment.
But with all this being said, let’s all try to remember the basics and be smart. COVID-19 is not airborne. It is transmitted by sneezing and coughing not by air. It can live on your hands for 10 minutes (wash your hands). It can live on metal for 12 hours (we sterilize EVERYTHING) and it can live on fabric for 9 hours (you will notice some of our non-essentials are gone for now). It’s easily spread, but easily killed. Knowledge is power. Be smart.
We will update you if things change or need to be modified. Our primary goal is keeping everyone safe and protected while having access to dental care. We realize a few offices are proactively closing. No recommendations have been for practices to close, but I assure you we monitor the guidelines closely and should that decision be made, we too will close.
Sincerely,
Marco Flores DDS MS and the team at Contemporary Dentistry of Centreville