Updated November 22, 2020
Following Dr. Bonnie Henry’s latest COVID-19 orders, masks are now mandatory in our clinic for all persons over age 2. They can be removed when treatment is being performed but must be worn throughout the clinic otherwise. Those with a medical condition that prevents them from wearing a mask will be required to wear a face shield. We will continue to update you as the situation evolves. Thank you for your patience with our extra COVID precautions.
In response to BC opening up dental offices in Phase 2 of the Reopening Plan, we are excited to announce that we are seeing patients again! Please bear with us as we enter this new phase and adapt to all of the new protocols we have put in place.
We have missed seeing your smiling faces so much! It is really hard to believe that we last saw patients in the middle of March. We truly hope that you all were safe and healthy through all of this and those that had dental emergencies, we will be seeing you first!
It has been really hard on me to not be able to treat your pain and discomfort. I became a dentist so that I could help people – I know that closing our office through this time has helped flatten the curve in BC and has been worth it in that respect, but it does sting to not be able to help our amazing patients when they need us. We really do love treating our patients!
New Protocols
So, in order to help our amazing patients and keep our patients and team as healthy as possible, we have instituted new protocols around the office:
- When you speak to our team members on the phone to schedule or confirm an appointment, they will be asking you screening questions to see if it is appropriate for us to see you for a dental appointment. This is a precaution we are taking to be able to protect our patients and team members.
- If you are sick, have been in contact with someone with suspected or diagnosed COVID-19 or have returned from outside of Canada in the last 14 days, please reschedule your dental appointment for 14 days from now.
- Please wear a mask to your appointment.
- We ask that you do not come more than 5 minutes early for your appointment as we are trying to minimize the number of people in the office at one time.
- Please come alone to your appointment – leave kids and spouses at home where possible. If you must bring a parent/caregiver due to your child’s age or the patient requiring assistance, please only bring one caregiver to minimize the number of people in the office at one time.
- When you enter the office, please wait at our screening station directly inside the door. A team member will offer you hand sanitizer and go through the screening questions with you again. They will then take your temperature. If nothing out of the ordinary comes up with this screening, you will be taken to your room. In the room, we will also be taking a reading of your oxygen saturation ( a simple finger test ). All of these screening measures are to ensure it is safe for us to treat you during this time.
- Any patient who is suspected of having COVID-19 will be rescheduled for 14 days. If they have a dental emergency, we will arrange to manage them over the phone or arrange for emergency treatment in a facility that is set up to manage COVID-19 patients.
- Prior to dental treatment, we will have you do a rinse with a hydrogen peroxide solution.
- Please maintain physical distancing of at least 2 meters (6 feet) while in the office.
- We have removed most of the chairs from our reception area to allow for proper physical distancing and placed decals on the floor as a reminder.
- We have installed a barrier in the reception area to protect our reception team.
- We have made the decision to go above and beyond the current government recommendations for personal protective equipment (PPE) in the dental field. We feel it is important to go the extra step during Phase 2 of reopening to keep both our team and our patients healthy. So you will notice that our team is wearing gowns and face shields during your appointment in addition to our usual masks and gloves. Please bear with us while we get used to wearing all of this for your treatment. We wear new gowns, masks and gloves for each patient and disinfect our face shields and eye wear between patients.
- We have always had a high standard for infection control and prevention in our office. All dental tools are heat-sterilized between patients and all treatment rooms are disinfected between patients. We will continue to follow our high level of this as well as increasing the frequency that we clean common areas such as door knobs, reception room chairs and reception counters.
- For the time being, we may be modifying how we do some of our procedures to limit the risk of transmission of COVID-19, so please bear with us when things are done a little differently than usual.
For patients with preexisting conditions that put them at higher risk, please inform us when we call to schedule an appointment. Common conditions that put you at higher risk for COVID-19 include:
- Over the age of 70
- Lung disease
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Immunocompromised or Immunosuppressed patients
Please, if you have any questions or concerns about our new protocols, please ask us. This is an unprecedented situation that we are all learning about as we go and following the recommendations of our Provincial Health Officer, WorkSafe BC, the BC Centre for Disease Control and the College of Dental Surgeons of BC. As the situation in BC changes and (hopefully) we continue to move forwards into Phase 3 and beyond, we will begin to relax some of our extra precautions back to a more normal level of infection control and prevention.
Rebooking Appointments
You missed your appointment with us…now what?
We are working our way through our list of patients who need appointments for dental treatment and for cleanings. Shirley is on the phone calling away to get ahold of everyone and get them scheduled. It will take us a bit of time to get everyone caught up but we will get there. I promise, we haven’t forgotten about you.
If you would like to be seen sooner or have a dental issue you think we should look at, please call the office at 250-762-2223 Monday to Wednesday 8:00-4:30 and Thursday 7:00-3:30. You can also email us at info@kelownafamilydental.ca.
As we all know, this is a very fluid situation that has the potential to change daily. We are monitoring the recommendations for our field and will adjust our protocols as needed accordingly.
Thank you everyone for your understanding during our closure these last few months. We know it has been a hard time for most people with closures of services, concerns about the health and wellbeing of family and friends and loss of work for many. We truly appreciate your support and confidence in our dental practice and are looking forward to seeing you all.
Sincerely,
Dr. Robyn Moreau, Dr. Tom Martin and the whole team at Kelowna Family Dental