To our valued dental family,
We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through so much over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to returning to our normal habits and routines. We are particularly glad to resume serving you, our patients, on May 5. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.
Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice as you have seen during your visits to our office. The procedures we follow are in place to keep patients and staff safe. Our office follows infection control updates 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 we are providing a safe environment for you and our team.
You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:
- Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
- We will utilize the parking lot waiting room protocol, please call 727.581.1441 when you arrive with your Name, Car Make & Color.
- Our providers will be wearing masks for your safety. We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other locations in the office for you to use as needed.
- Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
- 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.
- We will be utilizing an isolation device that significantly reduces the aerosols and provides for a more comfortable appointment for the patient during treatment.
- At the conclusion of your appointment, we will process any appointment fees in a manner to allow for non-contact payments.
In addition to the above precautions, we also want to inform you of the following infection prevention policies and procedures we have in place to ensure a clean and safe facility:
- We have had the office treated with a sanitizing fogging spray prior to re-opening.
- We will thoroughly disinfect all treatment rooms and all public surfaces and common areas between appointments using medical-grade disinfecting agents.
- We will be screening all team members prior to every work shift.
- We will continue to perform regular team training to stay current with all CDC guidelines and updates.
We are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at 727.581.1441. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Best Regards,
Andrew J. Holloman, DDS