We have officially reopened!
Hello to Everyone!
We officially reopened just over two weeks ago and are excited about inviting you back to the practice. We have mostly been taking care of emergencies that occurred while the office was closed. We have also started booking teeth cleaning appointments. Dentistry certainly looks different these days. We wish to inform you of some of the changes that you can expect with regards to your next visit.
Firstly, we have a tight screening process to ensure as much as possible the safety of both patients and our team. Part of the screening process involves prescreening questions that you will be asked to answer the day before your appointment. Although we have the list of questions on our website COVID-19 page, we need to verbally confirm the answers prior to your visit to the office. We understand that this may be an inconvenience, however we are hoping that by providing you this knowledge in advance you will be prepared. The process should not take longer than a few minutes. A parent or guardian will sign on behalf of a minor. We prefer that patients come to the office unaccompanied as no one will be permitted to stay in the waiting room due to social distancing protocols. In the case of a minor, if you need to come in to the office with a child, you will be asked to answer the same questions for yourself and follow the same protocols as a patient upon entering the office.
Two of the screening questions pertain to age (over 70) and health risks that could increase the severity of COVID-19 should you contract the virus. In order to limit the potential risk should you fall into these categories, we have set up "vulnerable patient" days. We hope that by having designated days to see vulnerable patients, you will feel more comfortable coming to the practice if you have a dental concern. It is always a dilemma regarding whether to see a vulnerable patient, however we also don't want to leave essential dental work untreated that could result in an emergency situation. If we believe it is not in your best interest to come to the office, we will let you know. We also can provide you with a tele-dentistry consult rather than an in office appointment if that serves you better.
Here are some of the protocols we have set up regarding your in office visit. We ask that when you arrive at the office you remain outside of our office main door and gently knock on the glass until you are instructed to enter. We also ask that you do not arrive earlier than five minutes before your appointment as we are staggering appointment times. There are areas to sit outside of the office and there is a new patient lounge being set up in place of the restaurant that was adjacent to my office. We need to practice social distancing within the office and as mentioned previously are only permitting one person in the waiting room/reception area at one time. Upon arrival you will be asked to hand sanitize and place a mask on. If you do not have your own mask, we will provide one to you. We will take your temperature and review the same questions that we asked you the day before your appointment. You will also be asked to sign a consent form confirming you understand the risks of COVID-19 in relation to a dental office visit. The new protocols are in accordance with the College of Dental Surgeons of BC and WorksafeBC guidelines. We will ask you to use hand sanitizer prior to leaving your appointment and prefer that you pay with debit or credit if possible. We will be adding a $10 COVID-19 Infection Control Protocol fee to each visit. This is to help cover some of the many increased costs resulting from this pandemic and associated new infection control protocols. Should this be a hardship for you, we fully understand and do not want it to be a deterrent for you visiting the office. Kindly let us know. The College recognizes a fee for this cost and some insurance companies have already started to pay.
We are doing everything possible to mitigate the risk of transmitting Covid-19. We have improved the air quality in our space, and only do aerosol generating procedures such as fillings and root canals in a closed room. As we are not permitted to go in and out of these procedures, it is possible that a dentist may not be able to do the regular check up at the time of your teeth cleaning appointment. Please trust that we will make every effort to do so, but understand that essential dental services are the priority at this time. If you have a dental concern and are booked for a cleaning appointment, please let us know in advance so we can do our best to evaluate it at that visit. Teeth cleaning appointments will be limited to hand scaling and fluoride varnish applications in order to minimize aerosol generating procedures. There is more time allotted in between appointments to allow for the best infection control protocols. We are in the process of finishing a fourth treatment room that will also be closed so we can accommodate more patients. Currently we are only able to see 3-4 patients a day for dental treatment other than cleaning appointments.
We are confident that you will feel safe coming to our office. For those of you who have a previously booked appointment that is coming up, we will contact you to confirm that you want to keep it. We may need to adjust the time, but will do our best to accommodate requests. We are also working through the list of patients who had other dental appointments such as fillings and crowns booked prior to the COVID closure and are calling patients in order of priority. Thank you in advance for your patience. Should you have any further concerns please call our office or send us an email and we will be happy to discuss them with you. We are thrilled that Dr. Gord Jones, who was with us for four years, has come out of retirement to do Dr. Marler's maternity leave. Dr. Marler and her family are doing well. She had a beautiful, healthy baby girl named Maria Simone. She is adorable!
On a logistical note, we unfortunately will be closed July 25-August 3 as the windows in the building are being replaced. We apologize in advance for further inconvenience. An emergency dentist will be on call and as usual their contact information will be provided on our voice messaging system.
We look forward to seeing you in the near future and hope that you continue to stay well.
Christine and the rest of the team!
