Hello Patients!
We hope that this note finds you and yours healthy and safe. We’re very pleased to let you know that we’re opening back up full time this Monday, May 4th with an expanded schedule to now include Tuesdays! Everyone on staff is doing well and very anxious to getting back to taking care of your dental needs on a regular basis. You may or may not know that we have been taking only emergency appointments one day a week since the Governor’s directive to close dental offices (with the exception of emergencies) on March 23rd.
We are opening up full-time based upon our governing body’s determination that Arizona has entered Phase I which allows elective medical and dental surgeries to proceed. Appointment based services (including regular dental exams and other dental procedures) are allowed even under the extension of the Governor’s “Stay at Home” executive order through May 15th. This will require some significant, but easily implemented modifications to what used to be normal for our office. For our patients, this means that these changes should not cause you any undue hardships and in fact allow each of us (patients and staff) more time to make sure we’re all safe. The most noticeable enhancements include the way we conduct our patient care and scheduling changes. As mentioned above, we will be adding Tuesdays to our schedule and lengthening the time for each appointment creating an extra day a week and more time for patient care Monday – Thursday. Please read below for what’s new!
- We are allowing extra time for patient care, so as to minimize interactions between patients.
- Liz will be calling you to re-schedule a missed appointment or schedule your regular 4 to 6-month check-up, please let us know if you’re exhibiting any respiratory symptoms.
- To accommodate departing patients, we ask that you please arrive for your appointment as close to the appointment time as possible (no earlier or later).
- We ask that you please come alone (unless you require assistance in ambulation) and anyone that accompanies you will be asked to wait elsewhere.
- The reception seating area will not be used for anyone to wait but only as a check in point with Liz and departure point.
- Upon arrival, you will be given a 1-ounce container of 1.5% peroxide and you will be asked to take this to the restroom and “swish thoroughly and spit” prior to being seated in your treatment room.
- We will no longer (during Phase 1 and possibly Phase II) have more than one Hygienist present at the same time. Both Barbara and Christine (our Hygienists) remain on staff, however, we’re providing an extra layer of distancing by only having one Dental Hygienist performing hygiene per day. This means that our office will add a day to our schedule and offer hygiene services along with other services Monday – Thursday.
- Extra precautions will be employed by everyone on staff to reduce patient exposure. Some of the most desirable healthcare provider Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) e.g. N95 Mask is currently mostly available in the Covid 19 “Hot Spots” (New York, Louisiana, etc.) and while the majority of Arizona is not considered a “Hot Spot” with the exception of the Navajo nation, we’ve been able to procure these highly effective N95 face masks and additional face shield barriers through the Arizona Dental Association.
Please be assured that we will take every step available to us to ensure your safety. We realize that a significant portion of our patient population falls within the ‘risk’ to ‘high risk’ categories. We ask that even if you are not in a risk category, that you comply with the suggestions that we have received from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Some of the practices that we employ will likely persist well into the future, and there will be a few things that become a permanent process. I would like to thank you in advance for the patience that may be required as we fortify our safety and infection control processes and implement our new operational procedures.
Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!
Warm regards,
Marty Margetis, DDS and Staff
