COVID UPDATE

Dear Parent:

We hope this message finds you and your family in good health. Just like you, by now we were hoping to have returned our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your family’s safety.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice, and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when your children receive care, it is both safe and comfortable.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations.

By now you are probably familiar with the changes we have implemented. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff from this new virus and we appreciate your patience with our new protocols. For example:

• Our office will communicate with you beforehand to give you some screening recommendations. You will be asked some health questions when you are in the office.
• We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also be asked to follow distancing guidelines. It is highly encouraged to wear a mask at least in the near future.
• You may see that for now, our waiting room no longer has magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect in between every family.
• Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you may be offered fewer options for scheduling your family’s appointment.
• We will do our best to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
• We are being extra vigilant of the aerosols produced during certain types of treatment.

We look forward to seeing you and your children and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice.

Thank you for the privilege to care for your family members. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to caring for our patients, neighbors and friends.

Sincerely,

Dr. McKenna, Dr. Suarez and the team at Fremont Children’s Dentistry