UPDATE:

We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our communities have been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our new normal. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our office’s commitment to your safety.

Infection control has always been a top priority in our practice. We follow recommendations and guidelines made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This allows us to make sure that our infection control procedures are up-to-date and enables us to provide the safest environment for our patients, their family members, and our team.

To help create a safe environment for all patients and team, we ask that you contact our office before your appointment if you are experiencing or have experienced any of the following in the past two weeks:

Fever, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell

Tested positive for COVID-19

We ask that you please be patient and understand that we will do our best to accommodate your scheduling needs as we know many of you are anxious to get back into our office.

During this time, we have implemented additional safety precautions to help protect our patients and our team. To prepare for your next dental visit please be aware of the following updates:

MASKS - All patients and guardians are required to wear a mask or face covering (i.e. bandana) while in the office, both before and after their appointment. We ask that you please bring a mask to each appointment. Masks can be purchased from our office for $2 if you do not have one. All masks are in short supply.

TEMPERATURE - A touchless thermometer will be used to take your (and your guardian’s) temperature upon entry of the office.

COMFORT - For your comfort, please consider bringing a sweatshirt, blanket, or pillow. Our office will be significantly colder due to the extensive PPE our team will wear. At this time, we cannot provide blankets and pillows during appointments.

PREPARATION - A member of our team will contact you at least one day before your scheduled appointment to complete the intake discussion. Please come caffeine-free. Your teeth should always be brushed, flossed, and rebrushed before the appointment. Allow an extra 2 hours with cleaning appointments in case of findings. We will try to do same-day treatment if needed. For operative work, patients must have no caffeine and less nicotine. If you need anxiety medication, please discuss it with our team in advance.

CHECK-IN - Patients will no longer be able to wait in our lobby until their appointment time. We will utilize a text message system to act as our virtual waiting room allowing patients to check-in from the comfort and safety of their vehicle. A member of the team will come to get patients when their room is ready. We ask that you please be patient while waiting for your appointment to start. We are doing our utmost to ensure the highest level of sanitization and safety between patient appointments which could, in turn, affect wait times.**PLEASE SEE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW FOR VIRTUAL CHECK-IN.**

SANITIZATION - Before leaving the room at the end of the appointment patients will be asked to sanitize their hands and put on their masks to help ensure the safety of other patients and our team. Our guest bathroom now includes touchless sanitization features.

SCREENING FEE - We are billing ADA Code D0190 “Screening of a Patient” for $50.00. This covers the administration and clinical screening and planning for your appointment. We cannot begin to recuperate our post-COVID-19 expenses with this nominal charge. 

PAYMENTS - At this time we are not accepting card transactions in office. Instead, patients can pay by cash or check. To pay by card, patients must call to pay over-the-phone before the appointment. Availability for online payments through our website coming soon.

In addition to our usual high standards, we would like for our patients to know:

ROOMS - Unlike many dental offices, all of our hygiene and operatory rooms are fully enclosed with walls and doors. This prevents any aerosol drift from other rooms and greatly increases patient safety. Rooms will also be cleaned between EACH PATIENT APPOINTMENT with an added UV Sterilizer and multi-stage HEPA filtration.

PPE - In addition to standard PPE, our team will be wearing and utilizing extra protective gear for both their and your safety. Many dental offices will have their staff wear one operatory gown for the entire day, but we will be having our team change into a freshly cleaned gown between every patient. To further protect you, even when we do not have patients in the office, our team wears masks and PPE to prevent the spread of germs, viruses, and infectious diseases.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR VIRTUAL CHECK-IN:

1. Once Upon A Smile will send the patient a Virtual Waiting Room Pre-Arrival two-way-text reminder message.
2. Upon arrival at the office, the patient should respond to the two-way-text message letting our team know they are in the parking lot.
3. Patients will wait inside their vehicle until a team member notifies them that their room is ready.
4. Upon entering the building, a team member will take the patient's and guardian’s temperature with a touchless thermometer. All patients and guardians MUST wear a mask while inside the office.