Dentists and Surgeons Cleared for ALL Procedures May 8th, 2020.

There was an egregious misstatement made on the scroll bar at the bottom of your TV on several news programs yesterday. It read: “Doctors were asked to halt elective procedures in order to help stop the spread of the virus.” This is completely false.

The cessation of elective procedures was to prevent the possibility of a shortage of hospital beds and masks. (Which, by the way, was a rare occurrence. Even New York’s governor Cuomo stated: “No patient died due to a lack of a hospital bed or a ventilator.”) And, no one died due to a shortage of masks.

As you head back into your dental office, one thing has remained the same: our professions’ commitment to your safety. You do not have to worry about getting sick from dental treatment weather it be the flu, the common cold, the COVID-19 virus or anything else.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practices and you may have seen this during your recent visits. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep 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 follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations.

You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. For example:

• Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions.

• You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.

• Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients.

• We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.

• The use of an array of new PPE’s (Personal Protective Equipment) to protect doctors and staff, while ensuring patient safety.

Thank you for your continued trust in our office. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.