September 2020 COVID-19 Update
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 some of 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 U.S. 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:
- We have medical grade HEPA air purifiers for each area in the practice. Our Medify air purifiers clean the air in each room every 30 minutes. We have also installed a UVC sanitizer in our HVAC unit to clean the air by removing viruses, mold and bacteria before it cycles back into our office.
- We now have a system in place to significantly reduce the aerosols that are produced by the procedures that we do.
- We screen our full staff, including temperatures, before even allowing any patients inside our practice to ensure that we are symptom-free before treating patients.
- Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office. If it is necessary to postpone your appointment due to the responses, we will let you know.
- At this time, we will not be allowing anyone in the waiting room (significant others, friends, and the like) unless the patient is under 18 years of age and needs to be accompanied by an adult. We will be coming out to you to take your temperature before admitting you inside and then we will bring you in when the operatory is ready. This also means that ONLY patients are allowed inside at this time.
- We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
- You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
- Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re 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.
- We are still open to pick up products and pay on your account. Please call us when you arrive or call us in advance to make sure we will be here as our hours can vary daily right now.
- We are doing some telehealth visits now as needed. Sometimes this is necessary if someone has a dental emergency or need but doesn’t feel safe going out due to medical reasons or other limitations. This allows us to triage your dental problem and even prescribe antibiotics as necessary in order to prevent a true medical emergency. Please call for more information to set one up if you are in need of being seen but can’t come into the office. These can be usually filed to your insurance as a limited exam and may be paid as if you were in the office. Otherwise, the fee for such a visit is equivalent to a limited exam in our office.
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)697-9861 or come back to our website.
Thank you for being our patient. We know that many of you have been inconvenienced by needing to reschedule dental treatment and hygiene visits. We are doing our best to try to get everyone taken care of with the least inconvenience to you. If you have a dental need, please know that we are open to addressing any needs you have right now. If you had to reschedule your hygiene visit due to COVID-19 or are scheduled in the next few months, please be aware that the schedule can change some as we also accommodate the health needs of our own staff, especially our hygienists. This may mean that you may be scheduled with a different hygienist than you normally see or possibly may see the doctor for your hygiene visit instead in order to keep you on track. It also may mean that we aren’t using the Cavitron (the ultrasonic scaler) at your visits right now. I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to make sure your dental needs are being met. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors, and friends. Stay healthy and safe!
Sincerely,
Dr. Trupti Desai + Staff