When COVID-19 entered the US and everything began to shut down in March, we had no idea that it would last for the unforeseen future. However, during this time, we’ve taken extra steps to keep patients and staff safe during their visits to our dental office. Patients can feel safe getting the dental care they need without a high risk of contracting COVID-19.

Learn how we’re keeping our Wichita Falls dental office safe during COVID-19 with these nine steps.

entry door of StarImage Dentistry

1. Screening Questions Prior to Appointment

Before your appointment, we will ask you a few screening questions to help us determine if you have come into contact with COVID-19 and if it’s safe for you to be in our office. We will ask you if you’ve experienced any COVID-19 symptoms like coughing, fever, loss of smell, loss of taste, or shortness of breath. Additionally, we will ask if you’ve been in contact with anyone who recently tested positive or has experienced any symptoms of COVID-19. These screening questions are very important for protecting our staff and other patients in our office.

2. Hand Sanitizer Throughout the Office

As you make your way around our office and touch any surfaces, we’ve conveniently placed hand sanitizers throughout the office. We strongly encourage you to sanitize your hands as often as needed to keep you feeling clean and healthy.

3. Waiting For Your Appointment in Your Car

To reduce the spread of germs in our office, patients will no longer have access to magazines or reading material in our waiting room. Instead, patients will wait for their appointment in the comfort of their own vehicles. When it’s time for you to come in, we will call you. This prevents too many people from being in a single room at one time and reduces the spread of germs.

4. Appointments Managed to Allow for Social Distancing

In addition to waiting in your car, we’re also scheduling appointments with social distancing in mind. To help patients interact with fewer people, we’re only scheduling a certain number of patients at one time. It’s possible you won’t even bump into one other patient while you’re in our office thanks to our appointment management.

5. Temperature Checks For Team Members and Patients

In addition to pre-screening questions, patients will also have their temperature checked prior to their appointment. Fevers are one of the most common symptoms in COVID-19 patients and by checking patients’ temperatures before their appointment, we can help rule our whether or not it’s safe for them to visit. We’re also checking the temperature of each of our staff daily and asking the same precautionary questions.

6. Hospital Grade Sterilization and Sanitation Protocols

Sanitation has always been a high priority at our dental office. Patients can feel relieved knowing we use the same level of sterilization and sanitation as hospitals. Every stage of your appointment is sanitized for you from the pens you use to x-rays and your exam chair. We clean all high-touch areas thoroughly after each patient so you can feel safe putting your hands on anything; and when you do touch something, we have hand sanitizer located throughout our office for extra precaution.

7. Doctors and Staff Wearing Additional PPE

If you’ve been to our office, you’re likely used to seeing us wearing a face mask, gloves, and glasses. However, now we’re wearing much more PPE! It now includes face shields and full-body coverings. Our additional PPE doesn’t just keep us safe but keeps you safe. Everything is disposable which means no germs can carry over from patient to patient.

8. UV Light Air Filters in the HVAC System

As air flows through our HVAC system, it isn’t just recirculating around our office. First, it goes through a UV light air filter. UV lights kill any type of organic growth like bacteria, mold, and viruses. The clean and sanitized air then recirculates into our office.

9. Multi-Stage Air Filters to Purify the Air

In addition to our UV light air filter in the HVAC system, we also use a multi-stage air filter that passes through several stages to remove some of the smallest particles from the air including airborne viruses. This extra step helps us create the cleanest air possible in our office. If COVID-19 did make its way into our office, these extra filters would help remove it from the air.

These nine steps are here to make every visit with us as safe as possible. If you have any questions about our precautions or sanitation steps, please do not hesitate to contact our dental office by calling 940-322-2252. We encourage you to schedule your next dental appointment with total peace of mind whether it is a dental cleaning or the next stage in your dental treatment.