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 agency’s recommendations.
You may see some changes when you come in to our office. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:
- Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some pre-screening questions if you happen to have made an appointment over the phone. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
- We have hand sanitizer that will be available at the front reception area for use.
- Signs and posters have been placed prior to building entry to inform other patients our new protocols.
- 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.
- There will be less chairs in the reception area. So please if you’re able to keep other family members home, that would help allow the patients that are already here feel more safe and can better practice staying 6 feet away from others.
- 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 ask you to bring a mask / scarf to cover your mouth prior to coming in for your appointments and be prepared to have your temperature taken in a non-contact manner on the forehead.
As of May 18th, we will start to see emergency and urgent dental care needs. We are now waiting for the LA County Department of Public Health to issue an approval for routine and preventative care such as exams and cleanings.
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.
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Sincerely,
Dr. David Doan & Norwalk Dental Center Team
