To our patients:
Our community has been through a lot over the last year, 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 as you have seen during your prior visits to our office. Our infection control protocol was designed so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to inform you about the procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.
Our office follows the 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 recommendations of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued.
We are grateful that many of our patients and staff have received one or both Covid vaccines. While we understand that your risk for infection is very low, CDC guidelines still recommend commitment to safety protocols. This includes social distancing, facial coverings and our pre-visit questionnaire. Although rare, vaccinated persons can still transmit the virus and even become infected with Covid.
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:
- In order to best serve you, we must personally speak with you 24-48 hours prior to your appointment. Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you arrive at the office.
- Please wear a mask to our office. 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. Please refrain from bringing companions if possible.
- You may see that our reception area 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. Please call our front desk at 609-698-1155 as soon as you arrive in our parking lotand we will let you know when to proceed to our front door, this will help us minimize your contact with other patients.
- We appreciate your cooperation in helping us protect you and our staff as we go through this global emergency together.
We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to seeing you again. We are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we are taking to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice.
Sincerely,
Doctors Wright, Ohman, Patterson, Stangl and the staff at Bayside Dentistry