COVID-19 Office Update
March 11th, 2020
As previously stated, we are keeping up to date on the latest COVID-19 concerns and have made some changes in our office to assist in further patient, family and staff safety. Our waiting room gets extremely busy during peak hours of operation in our office (a fact which you all are painfully aware of from 3-5pm as it is often standing room only). Because of this, the waiting room chairs have been reduced and spaced out to provide more social distance between seated patients and family members during this outbreak. This means fewer seats in the waiting room unfortunately. If you are comfortable sending your child into the office alone for their appointment (while a parent/family member waits in the car or elsewhere in the building) we can reduce the number of patients in the waiting room considerably. Feel free to call or text the office while your child is at their appointment to schedule their future appointment. Texting is a feature that can provide a quicker response than playing phone tag on voicemails. We generally provide a synopsis of your child’s treatment at the end of their appointment. If you are not at the office during your child’s appointment, Dr. Hughes is always happy to provide appointment details to you at the end of the day so feel free to request a call back from her as well.
When you check in for an appointment, we will be screening all patients regarding their recent travel history and medical conditions. Please do not take offense to this. We are merely trying to screen for the safety of our patients, families and staff members. This screening process has been recommended by for all dental offices to conduct.
We will be wiping down the office waiting room furniture, beverage center, video game consoles more frequently throughout the day with our hospital level surface disinfectant that kills viruses. Please cheer on Mia, Jen or Kerry when they are doing this as they are looking out for your safety!
We have tissues and hand sanitizer at the front desk. Please cover your coughs and sneezes and use our hand sanitizer products.
If you are not comfortable bringing yourself or child to their appointment, please do what you think is best. The worst case scenario is that they/you will be in orthodontic treatment longer and in the grand scheme of things, this is fairly trivial.
In the clinical part of the office, we will continue the same high standard infection control protocols that we always provide. Every year, the office attends an infection control class that provides all the latest information on dental office safety and thus guides our routine infection control protocols. This includes wiping down our dental chairs in between each patient with hospital grade surface level disinfectant. Dr. Hughes had to have all the chairs reupholstered last year as this disinfectant is so strong that after a few years of wiping chairs as often as we do, the leather becomes cracked and worn. Safety first though in this office! Gloves, masks and eyewear are always in use and all instruments are sterilized between each patient in our sterilizers. Weekly spore tests are completed on all sterilizers to ensure that they are performing at proper level on sterilization. Proper hand washing between patients and the use of hand sanitizer that has more than 60% alcohol is in constant use as well. Â Staff members that display symptoms of respiratory illness will also be asked to stay home from work. Unfortunately this could mean added waiting times to see patients or perhaps the need to reschedule patients if we are understaffed. We apologize ahead for this inconvenience should it occur.
We will continue to update you on changes as they occur and please call should you have questions.
