At A-Z Dental Care we recognize that we desire a return to life as usual even if we know that the changes we have been making are necessary. While it may be some time before things fully go back to normal, we have taken many preventative measures such as creating new patient and staff guidelines to altering office procedures to ensure that our patients feel as comfortable as possible while still receiving the same dental services that earned us our sterling reputation.

A Commitment to Safety

Our commitment to ensuring our patients’ safety and wellbeing has always been our top priority and we are paying close attention to recommendations from relevant authorities. Patients who have previously visited our office have probably noticed that we already had infection control practices in place. In light of the pandemic, we have doubled our efforts to keep both our patients and staff well protected. This includes fully decontaminating each operating room in between patients, as well as equipping each room with disposable barriers to limit the chances of suspended contaminants from spreading. In our office, we have also set up a new central fan and aerosol reduction equipment which decreases bio-aerosol by 90 percent.

To ensure that our patients can safely receive quality dental care from us and our staff remains protected enough to provide it, our office has adopted measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Dental Association (ADA), as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We are constantly monitoring these organizations for updated recommendations so that only the best measures are undertaken.

New Patient Guidelines

While we understand that some of these new patient guidelines may seem tedious or inconvenient, it is paramount that we operate under the following recommendations and mandates to ensure the safety of all involved.

Patients will be asked screening questions regarding their current health before their appointment, and again before they can enter our office. This redundancy ensures that patients experiencing adverse symptoms are unable to make contact with other patients or our staff.

A temperature check is required before patients can enter our office and we are also asking that patients wash their hands before and after they enter the operating room.

In an abundance of caution, patients will also be required to wait outside our office until the previous patient has been released and the necessary sanitization methods have been completed. This severely limits the chances of patients contacting potentially-contaminated surfaces. However, we are also limiting the number of appointments we schedule per day, in addition to ensuring that there is plenty of time between patient visits so that wait times are minimized.

Only one parent should bring their child to an appointment. Additionally, we are asking that patients not bring any additional family members. Minimizing the number of people in our office at any given time greatly reduces cleaning times and limits the chances of spreading infection.

We require that patients use our provided hand sanitizer before entering our office. There are additional hand sanitizer stations throughout our office for patient convenience.

To reduce the risk for pathogen exposure, we are also asking that patients rinse their mouths with an antimicrobial rinse.

Unfortunately, our office will no longer be offering magazines, toys, or any other items that are hard to clean efficiently in our waiting room.

New Staff Guidelines

All staff members will have their temperature checked twice per day. Those who experience any symptoms of an illness before or during their shift are prohibited from coming to the office and are required to observe strict quarantine measures at home.

Additionally, our staff has been divided into high risk and low-risk groups based on their proximity to patients.

All high-risk members of our staff must:

  • Wear personal protective equipment (PPE) throughout their shift. PPE includes scrubs, N95 masks and face shields, hair covers, shoes that are work-specific with covers, and disposable gowns and gloves.
  • Wash their hands before and after each patient.
  • Exchange their disposable masks, face shield, shoe and hair covers, and gowns routinely.
  • As usual, wear new gloves for each patient.

All low-risk members of our staff must:

  • Refrain from entering any operating room.
  • Wear surgical mask.
  • Using a hospital-grade disinfectant, clean all common surfaces every 30 minutes.
  • After disinfecting common surfaces, gloves are disposed of, hands are washed, and new gloves are worn.

Reach Out to A-Z Dental Care

We understand that some of the changes may be bothersome for patients; however, our prime concern is the safety and wellbeing of our patients and staff. Patients with further questions can contact us by using the contact information on this page.