A Notice to Our Patients on COVID-19

Dear valued patient, neighbor and friend:

We have been closely monitoring the situation around COVID-19 (commonly referred to as coronavirus), responding to new information as it arises, and preparing for all possible scenarios, with the goal of continuing to safely provide dental treatment for you and your family. The health, safety and overall well-being of our patients and our staff is always our top priority.

With this in mind, we want to assure you that a dental office is better prepared on a day to day basis than other businesses.  Every day, we are already following the guidance and training provided by the CDC (Center for Disease Control), DEP (Department of Environmental Protection), and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), to keep our patients and employees safe.

We utilize universal precautions as prescribed by the various regulatory agencies on a daily basis, and treat every patient every day as a potential infectious disease carrier to prevent cross-contamination of the known and yet to be discovered pathogens.  Every instrument and device we utilize in the care and delivery of dental treatment is either disposable or heat-sterilized, with indicators and independent laboratory testing for reliability and verification.

Out of an abundance of caution, today we have taken the following steps beyond our usual high standards:

• We reviewed with our employees and re-emphasized existing cleanliness and sanitation policies, including frequent and proper handwashing, and our practices regarding wearing masks, and the changing of gloves.
• We reviewed our daily enhanced protocols for sterilization protocols for our instruments and treatment rooms, including surface disinfectants in high-touchpoint locations.
• We’ve emphasized what employees can do to keep themselves and others safe, and we are implementing an emergency PTO policy which will help ensure that our associates are able to stay home if they are sick or exposed to COVID-19.
• We have also developed enhanced procedures to assess our employee’s fitness to return to work, and the risk of exposure if they have stayed at home or travelled.

Thank you for your continued loyalty and support.  Be assured we will do everything we can to continue to serve our patients safely and will continue to closely follow the guidance of the CDC, Federal, State and local health officials.

We have the utmost confidence in our leaders and health care officials to help us all to navigate in this challenging situation.

Michael A. Sisk, DDS

Jared M. Richard, DDS