AH Smiles has always followed the strictest CDC and OSHA regulations, and we hope that our attention to detail and cleanliness is apparent at all of your visits to our practice. We address the importance of pristine, healthy treatment rooms, reception areas, and the office as a whole–including the areas around the outside of the practice each day. Our protocols for infection control and sterilization are extreme, going above and beyond what is necessary. Beginning in May 2020, with the COVID-19 health crisis, we have implemented further advanced measures.
- Our team’s scrubs and uniforms are professionally laundered, and our staff members do not leave the building in their gowns. Our entire clinical team wears fluid-resistant gowns over their scrubs, and our entire outfit for the day does not leave the practice, including our shoes.
- We have acquired N95/KN95 masks, which offer the highest level of protection to both you and our staff. You may also see our team members wearing additional masks, such as a Level III surgical mask, over the respirator masks for further infection control. We will be wearing face shields over our loupes and mask combinations.
- We utilize high-speed suction/evacuation devices during many procedures for patient comfort and to minimize aerosols outside of the mouth. Even during hygiene appointments (teeth cleanings), we will now use high-speed moisture evacuation during the entire procedure, including an additional product that will rest on the cheek and suck away much of the aerosols generated. We have added extraoral high-speed evacuation for all dental procedures to eliminate or nearly eliminate even the slightest aerosols.
- Perhaps the most substantial addition is a series of 8 individually located 5-stage HEPA air filtration systems that we now run in each of the seven treatment rooms and in the sterilization area. These systems alone will clean the air over 8 times per hour, per treatment room. Separately from that, we have added 6 additional HEPA air filtration systems in various non-clinical locations, such as the lab, front desk, restroom, consultation, office, and reception areas. These systems combined, while quite over the top, offer our patients and staff the confidence that the air that we breathe in while anywhere within the practice is safe and clean.
- Hand sanitizer in addition to hand-washing with soap will be used before any patient treatments are initiated as well as when they are completed.
- We have installed an ionizer into our HVAC system that kills viruses as they pass by.
- With the exception of delivering treatment plans, new patient forms, and payment, our practice has been entirely digital and paperless. Our new techniques will work to minimize if not eliminate contact with paper and pens in a back and forth manner with the staff for your safety.
- We have implemented several new protocols for our patient appointments that will constantly work to minimize contact with other patients, including having patients move straight from their vehicles to their treatment room. Please know that this is for your safety as well as our own–we know this is the right thing to do despite the limitations it will initially have on “normal social interactions” between us which we so enjoy.
Be well and we look forward to seeing you soon!