The New Normal

We hope that you and your family are doing well and that you are all in good health. While many things have changed in our office, one thing has remained the same: our office’s commitment to your safety. Listed below is the latest information on our COVID-19 safety procautions.

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 Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act (WISHA) which is Washington's version of 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 and their family members.

We want to bring you up to date on a number of changes that you will notice when you visit our office. Every change has been put in place to keep everyone visiting the office safe and to comply with recommendations and guidelines made by our governing agencies.  

We will need to postpone treatment for anyone who has experienced or been in contact with someone who has experienced the following symptoms within 10 days of the scheduled appointment date: fever, cough, loss of taste and/or smell, flu-like symptoms, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, and fatigue.

In the interest of social distancing we are trying to minimize the time you spend in the office.  All new patient forms are available online.  We ask that you download them prior to your appointment and if possible scan them and email them to us at labelldentistry.records@gmail.com or fax them to (425) 481-0733.  If you can't take advantage of these options, please bring the completed forms with you.

We will be scheduling appointments in a manner that promotes social distancing and allows adequate time for us to disinfect all areas of use between patient appointments.

We ask that every person entering the office bring and wear a face covering and all who enter will be asked to sanitize their hands immediately upon entry.  

Our office will look a bit different as well. All items like magazines and newspapers have been removed since these items are difficult to clean and disinfect.  Clear plastic screens are present at the front counters and all team members are wearing masks to minimize the exposure to airborne pathogens.

Medical-grade high efficiency particulate (HEPA) air purifiers have been installed in the office to help improve the air quality in the area for all patients, family members, and staff.  Treatment rooms have more surface barriers and our team is wearing a bit more personal protective equipment to keep everyone in the office even more safe.

There are quite a few other changes that might not be as noticeable, like increased frequency of cleaning every counter, door handle, toilet handle and light switch in the office.  We are also using high volume evacuation systems to reduce what few aerosols we now generate during an appointment. While we sterilize all instruments used, we are now using more presterilized disposable items to keep you even safer. UVC disinfecting lights are also used throughout the day to insure that every surface, counter, knob and switch is clean.

Our waterlines are shocked frequently and treated daily to eliminate bacteria and biofilms and we are testing our water quality frequently to ensure there is no contamination and there are no biofilms present.

New information and recommendations come out frequently.  We will be monitoring these recommendations and updating this page and our office with any new information or protocols that affect your dental care.

Every change made to our office, every new item purchased and every protocol modification has been researched extensively.  These changes have been implemented to establish the highest safety level possible for our office and while taking care of our most precious asset...........YOU!!

We thank all of you for the patience you have shown while dealing with all of the inconveniences caused by COVID-19 and we are beyond excited to welcome all of our current and new patients back to the New Normal.........

Updated Jan 3, 2022

 

HELPFUL LINKS:

American Dental Association

Washington State Dental Association

World Health Organization

Center for Disease Control

CDC Coronavirus Info

Washington State Department of Health