COVID-19 and Dental Appointments
We are following the guidance of the ADA and NC Dental Board. They recognized Dental Care as essential and we prepared our office to open back up on May 11th, 2020. We are now seeing patients for treatments, however, due to the guidelines of Social Distancing, we have had to bring back a limited number of team members. Due to this, when you call to schedule your appointment, we may not be able to get you in as quickly as we were before but we are doing all that we can to provide the best care possible. We are so excited to see every one of you and we are so grateful for your patience during this time. Below, you will find the protocol that we have put in place for when you arrive at your appointment. Please review and call our office if you have any questions.
At Catlett Family Dentistry, we are committed to making sure that you are safe and protected from any possible exposure to the COVID-19 virus during your visit. We are doing all that we can to stay up-to-date with the latest in infection control protocol recommended by both the CDC and the ADA. Our careful attention begins even before you arrive.
When we confirm your appointment we will ask you the following questions:
COVID-19 Questionnaire
- Have you traveled in the past 14 days to any region affected by COVID-19?
- Have you had contact with anyone with confirmed COVID-19 in the last 14 days?
- Have you had any of these symptoms in the last 14 days?
- Fever greater than 100?
- Flu-like symptoms such as gastrointestinal upset, headache or fatigue?
- Difficulty breathing?
- Cough?
- Recent loss of taste or smell?
- Do you have heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, diabetes or any auto-immune disorder?
We ask that you arrive at your scheduled time and not before and then call us to let us know that you are in the parking lot. We will then call you to let you know that we are ready for you and when it is time to enter the office. We ask that only the patient enters the office and anyone traveling with you remain in the vehicle. We are doing this to prevent the potential of close contact with other patients and to preserve social distancing guidelines.
Once you enter and after having your temperature taken, we will ask you to use the hand sanitizer provided at the front desk and fill out the ADA Covid-19 exposure form for our records. Please bring your own pen so as to eliminate cross contamination. If you have to wait in the waiting room, you will see that our seating arrangement has changed and the chairs are spaced out to help reduce the potential of contact with another patient. Also, all of the reading materials, remote controls, and toys in the children’s play room have been removed. In addition, our front desk team members will meticulously clean the clipboards, counter, phones, keyboards, light switches, surfaces, chair arms, and anything else high touch.
Our clinical team member will then escort you back to the treatment room while avoiding any hand shaking or hugging (We really hate this!). You will notice a few new things in the treatment room. The doctors and team members will be wearing disposable gowns and will have different masks. At Catlett Family Dentistry, we have prided ourself on being current and up-to-date with any and all recommendations on infection control presented by the CDC and ADA. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we have been encouraged to implement several new systems to help ensure the safety of you and our team members. We will ask you to swish with a 1% hydrogen peroxide rinse for 60 seconds prior to the procedure. We will be wearing the recommended KN95 masks and face shields as well as disposable gowns. Our keyboards will be covered with a clear barrier and changed in between patients. In addition, our hygienists will forego using ultrasonic cleaning instruments for now and will only use hand scalers. All of these precautions should not alarm you, but should comfort you in knowing that we are working in the most sterile and safe environment possible. As new precautions are introduced, we promise to implement them as well.