Hello everyone! Just a little update since we were gone. While we were on shutdown for almost 2 months, we remained open on an emergency basis. Dr. Birch, as well as one assistant, and our office manager, were here a few days a week seeing patients who were having dental emergencies in hopes of keeping as many people out of the emergency room as possible.
Open All Elective Procedures
On May 18th we were able to open all elective procedures. We were able to set up a virtual waiting room in hopes to limit the number of people in the office at once. We were skeptical at first but it has actually worked quite well. When people arrive, they can either send us a text message to let us know they are here, or give us a call.
Someone then goes out to their car to take their temperature and to ask a series of questions (i.e “have you been in contact with anyone tested positive for COVID-19”) to help protect our own staff and everyone coming into our office.
Safety Precautions
All of our patients have been very understanding and very willing to cooperate.
We set up a hand sanitizing station as you walk into the front door and also set up sneeze guards at the front desk to help protect our front office members. If people do choose to come in instead of waiting in their cars, we have set our chairs in the waiting room 6 feet apart to accommodate that rule.
We did some research and found that rinsing with peroxide for 30 seconds vigorously breaks up the corona virus and destroys it in your mouth. We found an awesome mouth rinse that is peroxide based and tastes FANTASTIC. We are having our patients rinse with that before any high aerosol procedures.
We purchased 3 air purifiers that are placed throughout the office to help sanitize the air and they are AWESOME!!!
Large Stockpile of N95 Masks
We were fortunate enough to be able to get a large stockpile of N95 masks. Our members are wearing respirators with another exam mask over the top. We also got face shields that help with any splashing! If you’ve been here you know we are in the splash zone! Cari made scrub caps for all the hygienists and they are loving them! Edith got Harry Potter fabric (of course!) and Cari got cat fabric!
With all these changes and in such a different time, we are finding ways to have fun with it and looking at the positive in all situations. We can’t express our gratitude to all of our patients for their cooperation and support enough. We are still trying to get used to this new normal and everyone being so understanding has truly been a blessing. We are so happy to be back to work and to see our dental family! We will get through this together! Bring on the warm weather!
References
Mouth Healthy – https://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/dental-care-concerns/how-do-we-prevent-cavities
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research – https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/health-info/tooth-decay/more-info/tooth-decay-process
At Eleven Eleven Dental, we believe your comfort should always come first. You will feel our warmth and compassion as soon as you walk through our doors.