COVID-19 and Our Office

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice, and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Going forward, our office will continue following the infection control guidelines and recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), California - Dental Association (CDC), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We do this for your protection and ensure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agency’s recommendations. These new stricter guidelines go even further than we did in the past, to mitigate the risk of this novel virus. These measures will significantly increase our cost of patient care. The ADA has created a unique code (D1999) unspecified preventative procedure billable to patients and insurance.

To ensure the safety of our patients, our staff, and the doctors, we have instituted the following measures:

• At the time of scheduling, we will screen patients for symptoms of Covid-19, such as fever, cough, and exposure to anyone with a Covid-19 infection. You will be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.

• We plan to operate at reduced capacity to ensure adequate social distancing and time to disinfect the office between each patient. This means we will have limited appointments available as we re-open the office safely and effectively.

• All patients must arrive wearing a mask or cloth covering their nose and mouth. Everyone in the dental office, including staff and patients (except during treatment), must wear a mask or cloth cover.

• We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you first enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.

• Patients will have their temperature taken upon arrival, and anyone with a 100.4 temperature or above cannot be seen. We will ask you to wash your hands in the operatory before and after your appointment. Additionally, a pre-rinse will be given to patients before every procedure.

• We will require that patients stand at least 6 feet apart during check-in / check-out and while in the waiting room. We ask that all patients come to their appointments alone; only caretakers or a minor patient’s parent are permitted to accompany patients into our office.

• You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines since they are difficult to clean and disinfect.