COVID-19 Protocols
Dear Patients,
We are so very excited to announce that we are once again able to provide dental services for you, our valuable patients. Perfect-A-Smile Dental will begin scheduling all dental procedures on May 5, 2020.
While things are certainly not “business as usual,” we wanted to let you know we are here for you in our clean, comfortable, safe environment. Our standards are well “above and beyond” what the American Dental Association and Centers for Disease Control recommend. We love what we do and the people who allow us the responsibility to care for their oral health needs. We continue to always be here for you.
Here are a few things we have done to ensure the safety for everyone who comes into our office:
- All protocols, methods and materials have been reviewed to ensure that we can provide state-of-the-art sterilization, disinfection systems, and office procedures. Every solution, piece of equipment andinstrument was examined to ensure safety for our patients and dental team.
- Continued weekly testing of all three of our autoclave ensures our sterilization systems are effective.
- Our state-of-the-art air purification systems includes an UV light that kills 99% of bacteria, mold, viruses and reduces airborne particles such as dust, dander, pollen and mold.
- The reception area has been cleared of all shared items: magazines, newspapers, waters and coffee.
- We have minimized the reception room chairs to allow for social distancing should you need to sit in our reception area. Our patients are scheduled in such a manner to meet the EPA and CDC Guidelines for Disinfection and Sterilization to disinfect every surface that is touched for your maximum protection.
- We ask that you call us [ 440-708-0900 ] upon your arrival to allow us to ensure the office is cleaned and ready in between patients. If possible, any additional people who are with you should wait in your car for the duration of your appointment.
- Patients will be screened via phone, as to keep those high-risk patients and/ or those with flu-like symptoms safely at home.
- Measuring the temperature of all patients and team members that arrive is mandatory.
- Upon entering Perfect-A-Smile Dental, you will be asked to sanitize your hands. We will also provide facial masks should you not have one when entering the office. Additionally, we will ask you to sanitize your hands and replace your mask before re-entering our business areas.
- At the beginning of every appointment, you will be asked to pre-rinse with Peroxyl or Chlorhexidine. These mouth rinses have anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties.
- Team members change into scrubs upon entering the office, so there is no transmission of anything from the outside world into our office.
- We continue to use CaviCide 1 throughout our office after each patient. CaviCide 1 has FDA approval and is trusted by leading infection control experts as the most powerful sanitizing agent available for eliminating germs, bacteria, and viruses.
- During your previous treatment visits you probably observed our use of High Volume Evacuation [HVE] during many operative procedures. This is done to limit the aerosols being produced when using the high speed drills which produce aerosols with the water and air sprays. Being concerned for the aerosols produced with some procedures during your hygiene visits, we have initiated the use of HVE and if needed, an assistant during your dental health visit.
At many of your dental health visits, you may meet Ben Gibbs. Ben is the first male hygienist to join our team. He intends to assist our hygienists, you have known for years, getting to know our patient family and our office “routines” before we schedule his patients. Ben may greet you, assist with your questions and radiograph images, help to control aerosols during hygienic procedures, and even assist in scheduling your next appointment. Your hygiene visit will still be with the team member you always knew: Nicole, Lucia, Ashley or Miriam. Ben will also help us keep on time as we disinfect and prepare each treatment room for the next hygiene patient.
This high level of service is just one of the many ways that we are supporting our family of patients, and it is included in the excellent service that we provide. We go through a comprehensive disinfection after every patient.
As per CDC guidelines, the following Screening Protocol must be initiated to minimize the risk of COVID-19 symptomatic. We have implemented this Communicable Disease Screening Questionnaire [CDS form] when scheduling and confirming patient appointments on the phone.
All the questions below need to be asked and recorded:
- Have you been in contact with someone who is sick?
- Have you traveled internationally in the last month? (If yes, list all places traveled.)
- Have you been in contact with someone who has traveled internationally in the last month? [Concerns for COVID-19 exist for travel to China, Iran, South Korea and Italy but this may change in the near future]
- Do you have any of the following symptoms?
-
- Fever
- Cough
- Shortness of breath
- Muscle pain
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Severe headache
- Abdominal pain
- Red eye
- Weakness
*If you answer “Yes” to symptoms and “No” to travel or being around a sick person who has recently traveled internationally, we must ask you to contact your primary care provider so we can learn your status before treating you.
*If you answer “Yes” to travel (includes being around someone who has traveled and is sick) and “Yes” to symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath, we must ask you to contact your primary care physician that you will learn your health status.
*If you answer “No” to travel and symptoms, we can schedule a dental visit for you.
The doctors and all team members here at Perfect-A-Smile Dental will continue to go above and beyond for our patients; it is second nature. For this and many reasons, many of our patients have trusted their care with us for 45 years.
We very much look forward to seeing you, your family, and your friends,
Respectfully,
The Team at Perfect-A-Smile Dental
