We are Open!

Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our “new” normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: Our commitment to quality care in a safe environment!

Infection control has always been a top priority for our office, and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are designed to allow us to provide care that is both safe and comfortable. In accordance with the infection control recommendations made by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), we have instituted additional infection control procedures and will re-evaluate these procedures consistent with updated guidelines.

We will be re-opening our office on May 26, 2020 per the recommended guidelines from the Massachusetts Dental Society (MDS), American Dental Association (ADA), and the Massachusetts Opening Task Force. We follow the activities of these agencies closely so that we are up to date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued as we move through the re-opening phases. Thank you in advance for reading this email in its entirety and for your patience over the past 9 weeks!

Initially, the biggest changes include wearing a mask while in the office and social distancing as much as possible. Please provide your own mask as PPE supplies are low and we need them to operate our locations as effectively as possible for all our patients. We will provide one if needed. Below is the information and additional protocols that have been established and will be enforced in our office daily:

Team:

We will take the temperatures of every team member immediately upon arrival at work and after lunch. Any team member at 100.0 F or above will go home. Every team member will answer the same health questionnaire questions that our patients are required to answer and will do so every day. If any questions disqualify the team member from working safely, they will be sent home.

Patients:

At your next appointment:

• We will continue to ask that you call the front desk staff to check-in for your appointment from the parking lot. A greeter will come get you when we are ready for your appointment.
• The greeter will meet you at your car to provide a pre-screening health form and an informed consent that will need to be signed. Please download the forms prior to your appointment. Also, a temperature will be taken.This is part of the re-opening guidelines that we need to follow.
• If a patient has any sign, symptoms, or temperature greater than 100.0 degrees we will re-schedule the appointment and advise you to seek guidance from your primary healthcare provider or a local clinic or hospital. There will be no exceptions per the recommended guidelines.
• We ask that you come with your own protective mask as you will be required to wear one while in the waiting room. It will be removed chairside before your procedure begins.
• Patients will be asked to rinse with 3:1 ratio of water to hydrogen peroxide per the ADA guidelines at the beginning of each procedure. Again, there will be no exceptions. This procedure has been shown to decrease viruses and germs up to 92% with a pre-procedural rinse.
• We ask that parents stay in the car until the appointment is finished. We will notify you to call to make your next appointment or the patient may schedule the next visit upon departure from the visit.
• If you need to speak with the Doctor please notify the front desk and will we try to accommodate you at the visit. If that is not possible, we will have the Doctor follow-up with you as soon as possible via telephone or virtual meeting.
• If a parent must enter the office then a mask must be worn, health questionnaire filled out, and temperate taken. Again, if you anticipate this, please provide your own mask. If not, we will provide one for you.
• Anyone entering the office must wash their hands or use the hand sanitizer provided. Bathroom are easily accessible from each offices’ waiting room and sanitizer is in the reception area, and other places in the office for you to use, as needed.
• You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect. This change also has been to provide adequate space for social distancing.
• Appointments will be managed to allow for the above guidelines to be deployed. Please be patient with our office during this difficult time.
• We will do our best to allow greater time between patient appointments in order to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area, and for staff to maintain a clean, safe environment.

Additionally, we have purchased electric handpieces that do not need air or water to use while removing glue from your braces. This the only procedure that we do in our office that generates a dental aerosol. Although not commonly used in the orthodontic setting, these handpieces have shown in many studies to decrease dental aerosols by over 90%.

In addition, this procedure will be done with hi-speed volume suction (HVE) which alone has shown to result in 90% decrease of dental aerosol of viruses and germs. Keep in mind that evidence shows viruses and germs cannot live on or in dental glue.

We have also invested in UV-C sterilizer to sterilize our N95 masks that will be needed to remove your brace glue and purchased air filtration units. Currently, this is the only air filtration unit that has been tested and shown to capture the coronavirus. Lastly, each office has been deep cleaned this week to ensure a clean, safe environment before we begin seeing patients for regular procedures.

We know that you have invested in us and we have invested a lot of time and resources to ensure we meet all the re-opening guidelines for our office.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we have taken to create a safe environment for every patient and employee in our practice. For those of you that had your appointment(s) cancelled we will be contacting you in the coming days to reschedule. We will be recalling patients in the order that the appointments were cancelled. First appointments cancelled with be the first appointments to be rescheduled. Please be patient with our office in order to ensure we can meet everyone’s needs, but in an orderly fashion, as we had to delay over 3000appointments across all the locations.

Our administrative staff will do everything possible to ensure timely re-scheduling. We invite you to call our office with any questions you have regarding this communication.

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends!

Sincerely,

Dr. G, Dr. Gamm, Dr. Paletta and the entire SEO staff