Dear Patients,
We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. 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 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 US 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 adhere to each agencies recommendations.
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 fully re open on June 1st, 2020. Please be patient with us as there are a lot of people who would like to have their teeth cleaned.
- The office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You will be asked those same questions again, on a consent form, when you come into the office.
- When it is time for your appointment, call and let us know that you have arrived, and please wait in your car. We will call you when we are ready for you to come in.
- There will be a “sanitizing station” at the front desk. This will include hand sanitizer, a forehead scanning thermometer, and a mouth rinse.
- If you have a fever, you will be asked to leave immediately. Not only for the protection of the staff, but also for the protection of other patients
- Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you are 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.
- During your hygiene appointment, you may notice that the hygienists are not using the Caviiron (the instrument that sprays water). The reason for this is to reduce the amount of airborne particles.
- We have new air purification devices in every operatory. We will now be wearing special gowns, masks, and face shields, not only for the patients protection, but also for the staff. We have strong disinfectants and cleaning solutions that will be used before, during and after every patient.
- Due to all the new changes, there will be an additional $20.00 fee (as suggested by the ADA) added to your bill for costs associated with the new personal protective equipment (PPE) safety measures.
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. To make an appointment, please call our office at (773) 774-2114 or visit our website at https://citylimitsdental.com
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Sincerely,
Lisa Vihnanek, DDS