We hope this update of our office finds you and your family healthy and well. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are eagerly looking forward to resuming our normal lifestyles and routines as soon as possible. While many things have changed, one thing remained the same: our commitment to your safety and wellbeing.
To protect you, our office has always followed and exceeded infection control standards set by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Dental Association® (ADA). We do the same to protect our team, by following the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHA) guidelines.
As of May 11th, 2020, the county of San Diego and the Department of Health and Human services has officially cleared us to resume orthodontic care on our patients. Below is a list of what we are doing to minimize the spread of COVID-19:
- Maintaining a minimum of 6 feet distance between patients and team members when possible for social distancing.
- All administrative team members are wearing face masks, and when interacting with patients, they add gloves.
- When treating patients, team members wear gloves, a face shield, safety glasses, and barrier clothing.
- All team members have their health assessed and their temperature screened at the start of each day.
- The office has always maintained a high-purification air filtration system utilizing UV light ionization and HEPA quality filters to help destroy airborne particles and viruses.
Our continuous disinfection control throughout the day also includes the list below:
- We ask patients to wait in their car upon arrival until the time of their appointment.
- We are requesting that only the patients come into the office, unless the parent would like to bring their child in.
- Everyone entering the office is required to wear a face mask, which will be removed during treatment.
- All patients are required to have their temperature taken and use the available hand sanitizer upon entering the office.
- In the reception area and the treatment area, we are practicing social distancing by keeping seating a minimum of 6 feet between others. We are seating patients in the treatment area one at a time in every other chair with a path of travel aimed to keep distance.
- Our teeth bushing stations and video game centers are currently closed to avoid cross contamination. Please brush your teeth before your appointment.
- We disinfect office counters and door handles after patient contact.
- The bathroom is disinfected throughout the day.
- We use a disinfection protocol of the treatment chair and side unit after each patient.
- All instrument packs undergo a thorough sterilization protocol and are not opened until ready for use.
- There is no cross contamination with the use of pens. Patients are given a disinfected pen for any written needs during the appointment.
- Any use of credit cards will be hands free. The credit card number can be verbally given to our team member if needed.
- Nightly cleaning of our office using disinfecting materials.
We hope this gives you the confidence that we are doing everything possible to keep all of us safe and healthy.
The Hennes Team