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How to safely go to the dentist during the pandemic
Please keep up with your oral hygiene! Call us if you have questions or concerns. We are taking every possible precaution to keep everyone safe in our office, including medical grade air purification systems that are used in hospital isolation rooms. https://www.dentalproductsreport.com/view/new-research-suggests-a-deadly-link-between-gum-disease-and-covid-19
DENTALPRODUCTSREPORT.COM
New research suggests a deadly link between gum disease and COVID-19
We are expected to have a new state mandate tonight that is specific to dental health care. Our office is still open for emergency treatment by appointment only until the rest of our supplies arrive and we can stay open for more than just a few days of select procedures. The search and hunt for proper supplies has been extremely difficult, with everything back ordered. Several practices made donations of their PPE when COVID-19 hit Alaska, but replacing those supplies is not easy at the moment. We really hope this supply chain balances out quickly! Hang in there! We will be ready to see your smiling faces soon!
We hope everyone is hanging in there and staying healthy with this pandemic around us. We are getting closer to having our doors open to non-emergency dental care. The Alaska Dental Board has another meeting this Wednesday night that will hopefully be lining out the guidelines and requirements for the re-opening dental offices. Stay tuned and we will let you know as soon as we are ready to roll!
The latest mandate delivered yesterday to "open up elective health procedures" sure was confusing! If read entirely, you will see that nothing has changed yet for dental businesses. We are still only seeing emergency patients for an indefinite amount of time. We are waiting for the Alaska Dental Board to give more clarification on this, but the governor's mandate sure confused a lot of people, patients and dental community alike. We ARE on call for true emergencies as set by the ADA standards. Please call if you have questions and concerns. We are checking messages daily and will call you back. We can't wait for this to pass so we can see your smiling faces and keep those teeth and mouths nice and healthy! Stay safe!!
A little dental humor:
As a reminder, we will be closed tomorrow December 24th and will reopen Monday December 28th in order to enjoy the holiday with our families. Merry Christmas to you all, from our family to yours!
With the announcement from our governor today, we want to let patients know that there are no new changes to the Health Mandate 15 at this point. Please be assured we are doing all we can to ensure the safety of our patients and our staff.
-Staff temperatures and oxygen saturation is checked and recorded daily.
-Patients are screened by phone, and again upon check in, where we also check their temperature and oxygen saturation. Temperatures over 99 and oxygen saturation lower than 94% will not be seen. (exceptions are made for COPD or patients with history of lower oxygen saturation)
-We have increased our PPE, increased cleaning in common areas, and plastic sheeting has been placed between the treatment rooms to prevent airflow between rooms.
-New isolation grade air purification systems are in each treatment room.
-All patients needing aerosol producing treatments are COVID-19 tested with in 72 hours of their appointment with us.
-Patients are checking in via phone from their car and we call them to have them come up to avoid anyone gathering in the waiting room.
-Masks are required by anyone entering, and are not removed by the patient until we are working in their mouths.
-All treatment rooms have always been thoroughly cleaned and sanitized between patients, and we continue to do so.
Keep yourselves healthy, maintain your oral hygiene and overall health and we will get through this pandemic. Stay safe out there, and please follow the recommendations to wear masks and distance yourself!
