Dear valued patients,
We are excited to have the opportunity to welcome you back!
Enamel Dental will reopen on Monday, May 25, 2020 at 8 a.m. for dentistry and our dental hygiene team will return on Monday June 8th, 2020. If you have a scheduled hygiene appointment between now and June 8th, it is cancelled. We will be contacting all the patients that we have cancelled appointments since March 16th, over the next few weeks.
While our office has always utilized personal protective equipment (PPE) that has exceeded all the guidelines, in light of COVID-19 we will institute additional guidelines and protocols prior to your in-office visit to ensure your safety and ours. You will see many changes, as we have new ways of scheduling your appointments and managing your insurance and financial transactions.
First, you will be contacted 48-72 hours prior to your appointment via phone, text or email and asked a set of health-related questions. It is required that we complete this questionnaire prior to your appointment. We will have to reschedule your appointment if we are unable to complete this step.
Below is a list of some of the enhanced precautions we have taken to protect you in addition to extensive team training on infection control and patient management procedures.
- Personalized arrival procedures to guide you from your car directly to treatment rooms to eliminate contacting surfaces. When you arrive to your appointment, you will be asked to wait in your car and we will call you on your cell phone when your provider is ready. If you don’t have a cell phone, let us know and we can make alternative arrangements.
- Maintain distancing in the reception area for essential caregivers and parents of minors if they cannot wait in a vehicle or outside the clinic.
- Removed magazines and items that can harbour or transfer germs of any kind.
- Hand sanitizers will be positioned throughout the clinic.
- Providing more educational materials to enhance your awareness of health issues related to this pandemic.
- We require a mask to be worn by ALL patients upon entering the office. Please bring a mask with you to your dental visit.
- Installed sneeze guards or droplet barriers at all reception areas.
- Require hand washing and hand sanitizing before all appointments by our team and by our patients.
- Introduce an oral pre-rinse by all patients to reduce exposure to germs.
- Require all team members to undergo periodic testing for COVID-19 and antibodies for the earliest detection of exposure should it exist.
- Record the temperature and oxygen level of every patient upon entering the office.
- Record the temperature and lung efficiency of every team member each day at the beginning and end of the work period.
- Payment arrangements in advance to avoid delay and allow contactless exit from the appointment.
- Enhanced operatory disinfection procedures of all surfaces between patients. Enhanced operatory disinfection procedures before and after all appointments with mist or fogging devices to access hard to reach places that can be easily missed.
- Our Hypochlorous (HOCL) fogger is a natural, effective solution to fight against bacteria and viruses. It is 80 times more effective than bleach and is safe for direct contact with skin. Our staff will be using the fogging solution in all operatories and each provider will be fogged after all dental procedures.
- New personal protection equipment like visors, gowns, and masks for our doctors and team to provide barriers against the smallest of germs.
- Introduced protocols to reduce or eliminate airborne aerosols during all dental procedures.
- We have enclosed all dental rooms with draping to enhance safety.
- Enhanced daily disinfection procedures of equipment and office fixtures like computers, keyboards, telephones, tablets, chairs, doorknobs, and buttons that may be touched unconsciously.
- Disinfection of all outside mail and packages that enter the building.
- Longer appointment times for you to prepare and complete all appointment tasks and duties in the safest and most comprehensive manner.
- Providing tele-dentistry services for follow up lab reports or communication that can be done online or through video education.
We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time and we look forward to seeing you all again.