We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over
the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your health and safety.
Since resuming normal operations on May 30, 2020, we have received many questions about infection control both in person and over the phone. 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 you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep you, your family and our team safe.
Our office has always followed 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. We also have gone above and beyond these recommendations for approximately 10 years by implementing a specialized Oral Aerosol Evacuation System and specialized high-volume suction equipment for aerosol generating procedures. These capture and filter the air of viruses, bacteria, aerosols, airborne particulates, mercury vapor, VOCs, and more keeping the air you breathe clean. You may know it by Mr. Snuffleupagus. Look for it or ask about it at your next appointment.
We have worked very hard to ensure that any changes that we have made to our processes are as invisible to you as possible. However, you may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:
- Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
- We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office.
- We will also be taking your temperature when you arrive at the office with a touchless scanning thermometer.
- We have implemented a new Mobile Check In process to maintain the minimum number of patients in our office needed for scheduled visits. This new process will include texting the office at 248-860-3541 when you arrive in the parking lot and waiting in your vehicle until you receive a text or call from us that we are ready to see you for your visit. We recommend that you add our office cell to your contacts so you will know it’s us calling or texting.
- We have reworked our office flow for patients throughout your visit in order to maintain social distancing recommendations. Check-in will be at 1 location and check out will be at a separate location.
- You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
- Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment. We have also staggered the start times for each of our hygienists by 10 minutes. Your hygiene visits might now begin 10 minutes prior to the hour, on the hour or 10 minutes after the hour depending on the day you are scheduled with us.
- We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
We look forward to seeing you again very soon, 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. To make an appointment, please call our office at 248-652-0024or visit our website at www.hpsdental.com.
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to continuing to help you achieve your oral health and total health goals.
Smiles!
Dr. Heather, Dr. Maltese and the entire HPS Advanced Dental Care Team
