Patient safety and infection control have always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. 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.
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.
- After arriving in our office we will kindly ask you to keep your masks on until seated in the treatment chair. You will be provided with shoe covers to wear throughout your appointment. Your body temperature will be measured and recorded. Your appointment will be rescheduled if measurement readings are 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Please refrain from drinking hot or cold beverages 15-20 minutes prior to your appointment to get an accurate body temperature reading.
- We have hand sanitizers placed throughout the office and centralized hand washing areas that we will ask you to use when you enter the office.
- You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys, and so forth since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
To make your wait enjoyable, you will have the option to watch the channel or movie of your choice in the waiting room if you are accompanying a minor, elderly or disabled patient or patients with language barriers. - 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 encourage patients to call the office once in the parking lot to make sure the previous patient has left and infection control procedures have been completed.
Our office has also established an additional lounge in the unlikely event you have to stay in the office in the presence of another patient. - To mitigate aerosols created in the dental office to protect healthcare personnel and patients, patients will be asked to do antimicrobial pre-procedural rinses.
- Our office has also implemented additional following steps to control office air quality:
- Placement of hospital grade air purification units in the waiting room and operatories
- Placement of UVC lights for continuous office air disinfection
- Placement and use of the external oral suction unit with multi-layer filtration system including HEPA filter, UVC Lamp and plasma sterilizer
- Fogging operatories and waiting rooms with eco-friendly, non-toxic, safe, and natural hypochlorous acid sanitizer.
We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice.
For immunocompromised patients, elderly, or patients who prefer to virtually discuss any routine or emergent dental needs, our office also offers Teledentistry for a nominal fee per case per patient from 9:00 am-6:00 pm every day including Saturday & Sundays. Teledentistry includes phone consultations including review of provided images, triaging patients prior to making any necessary referrals and providing emergent dental plans, and prescribing emergency medications for existing patients. Please note Teledentistry may not be covered by insurance and if covered will replace a limited exam. Teledentistry is not a substitute for a comprehensive or an in-office exam requiring clinical and radiographical (X-ray) assessment.
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors, and friends.
To make an appointment, please call our office at 703-434-3286 or click below:
To maintain dental health & prevent further deterioration of teeth, gingiva & TMJ our office has put together several guidelines to help our patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Please visit our Blog on “ Helpful Health Tips & Recommendations During Quarantine ” .
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Stay Healthy & Safe by Social Distancing Until Your Next Visit!