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Dear Friends,

I hope that you are all healthy and are adjusting to this new environment. I do urge you to keep your guard up and continue to wear masks when you are out in public. We will be living with this virus for many more months, perhaps longer.

Our office is now open with our regular hours. Please be comfortable knowing that we have done everything possible to create a safe environment for both you and our staff and will continue to as new technologies and protocols emerge.

Please remember to remain in your car and call us when you arrive and please keep your air conditioner on so when we check your temperature we get an accurate reading! Please be patient too, there is a possibility that we may not be “on time” because of preparation, increased PPE, and staggering entries and exits.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to strictly following the CDC and American Dental Association guidelines and “universal precautions,” we are pleased to announce additional layers of safety that we have added to facilitate care and protect our patients and our staff. We are constantly monitoring CDC and public health guidelines and will keep our protocols current for everyone’s safety.

We have added “PAX-2000 Extra-oral Dental Suction Systems” to our treatment rooms. This provides additional high volume removal of droplets and aerosols associated with dental care; they have extensive medical grade filtration systems including activated carbon and medical grade H-14 hepa filters and a UV-C system and plasma disinfection units as well. These systems will eliminate airborne virus particles and make a much safer environment. We have also begun using a medical grade fogging machine which utilizes hypochlorous acid; we fog in the morning, during lunch and at the end of the day. We also fog after aerosol producing procedures. This technique is safe and highly effective; it kills airborne bacteria and viruses as well as sanitizing surfaces. Our dental hygiene rooms are using an intra- oral aerosol reduction system called “Releaf” to reduce aerosols during cleaning appointments, and our air conditioning system is now using hepa filters as well. We have installed glass barriers in our front office and have placed curtain barriers between operatories. We are confident that these aerosol reduction systems are great additions to our already enhanced safety precautions.

From additional safety protocols and enhanced protection for both patients and staff (face shields, N95 or KN95 masks, gloves, hats, and fluid resistant outerwear) to careful sterilization of all instruments and increased infection control protocol in all operatories, lab space, bathrooms, hallways, and reception areas, we are providing dental care in a safe and comfortable environment.

Also, if you have any underlying medical situations such as chemotherapy or any other condition that causes you to be immunocompromised please let us know and we will see you when others are not in the office or find a way for you to have very limited contact with others. You will not have to go without dental care.

Again, thank you for being so patient during this pandemic. We will do all that we can to keep things as close to “normal” as we can!

Sincerely,

John Covert, D.D.S.

P.S. Right now accurate science and information are extremely important! My favorite websites for accurate science regarding COVID-19 are:

1. Coronavirus.jhu.edu
2. CDC.gov
3. covid19.sanantonio.gov
4. NIH.gov/coronavirus

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