REOPENING PROTOCOLS FOR PATIENTS | Northeastern Braces

We’re back! Our offices have reopened to regular (non-emergency) visits. We want to assure you that we are fostering a safe environment for our patients and staff. With that in mind, please review our reopening protocols below.

REOPENING PROTOCOLS FOR PATIENTS:

If you are the parent or guardian of a patient, you are free to accompany the patient to the door, but we ask that you do not enter the building. If your child is younger than 16 years old, we ask that only one person accompany him or her should you feel the need to do so. Otherwise, we ask that all parents, siblings, family members and friends remain in the car or outside our office.

Feel free to call us when you arrive to let us know your child is entering the office and we will greet them and confirm they arrived safely.

Upon entry, we will take all entrants’ temperature with an infrared forehead thermometer. After entry, we ask that patients rinse thoroughly with mouthwash. We also ask that patients brush their teeth before entering to reduce exposure in the office.

For parents of minor patients:

Upon appointment completion, we will immediately contact you to make your child’s next appointment unless you give permission to have him or her do so. If you are not able to make an appointment, we will do our best to follow up with you, but we anticipate a heavy burden on our reception team over these next few weeks, so we ask that you take it upon yourself to contact us to assure you get the desired appointment.

We kindly ask that you call to cancel and reschedule your appointment if the patient or anyone the patient has been in contact with over the past 14 days has exhibited signs of the following:

1.

  • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
  • A cough

Or 2 of the following:

  • A fever (of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher
  • Repeated shaking with chills
  • Headache
  • New loss of taste or smell
  • Chills
  • Muscle pain
  • Sore throat
  • Vomiting

And/or

2. If you have been in close contact with anyone who has a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis

In order to assist with efforts to create social distancing, we will reschedule certain appointments over the next several weeks that are considered non-essential. We will do our best to accommodate everyone’s desired re-appointment times, but please understand that this crisis may quickly overwhelm our capacity to accommodate every person’s request.

 

ALTERATIONS TO OUR OFFICE FOR ENHANCED SAFETY AND INFECTION CONTROL:

In addition to heightened safety protocols, we have altered our office to make it even safer for our patients and staff.

We have added HVE devices at each chair in our office to further enhance the reduction of aerosols during aerosol producing procedures. In testing, an HVE device positioned extraorally within one inch of the commissure of the mouth resulted in reduction of particulates from 89.7% to 90.8% when compared to the intraorally positioned standard saliva ejector.

In addition, we have added wall partitions between each chair in
the main bay of our office (Newburgh only) to limit exposure between patients and staff.

PROTOCOLS FOR ENHANCED SAFETY AND INFECTION CONTROL:

We are adhering to the highest infection control standards. Our office is cleaned thoroughly every day and throughout the day. Our staff is taking extra care to disinfect all areas of the office. Our use of disinfectants, up-to-date sterilization practices, dedicated hand washing, and one-time-use disposable materials have also helped facilitate safe dental visits for our patients.

Our staff are also being updated on a daily basis on the latest recommendations from the CDC for minimizing the risk of exposure to you, your family, and the members of our practice. To that end…we have employed a staff member whose sole responsibility will be sterilization of the office and its equipment throughout the day.

In addition to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) including N95 masks, gloves and protective eyewear, our staff will now be wearing protective face shields for an even greater level of protection.