Dear Patients, Parents and Guardians: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 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:- Our office may communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
- Whenever possible, we request that only one adult accompany your child/children for each appointment, unless it is felt that more than one adult is absolutely necessary.
- In order to limit the number of people in the reception area, we will ask that you remain in your vehicle and call the office on arrival. The receptionist will let you know when the staff is ready for you to enter the building.
- All adults and patients are required to wear face masks at all times upon entering the office, except during dental treatment. This does not apply to very young children and those patients with special health care needs who cannot tolerate face masks.
- We have hand sanitizer and soap/water that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find hand disinfectants in the treatment areas and checkout areas for you to use as needed.
- You may see that our reception area, treatment rooms and checkout areas will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
- Feel free to bring your own portable electronic devices, toys, books etc. to keep your children occupied before, during and after appointments as you deem appropriate.
- 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. At the same time, we have many, many patients who have been waiting months for care and a balance will have to be made between limiting office capacity and restricting access to urgent dental care.
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 (814) 455-2158 or visit our website at www.beautifulsmileserie.com.
Thank you for entrusting us with the oral health of your loved ones. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Sincerely,Drs. Carlin, Tuthill, Dunlavey and the Beautiful Smiles Team