Dear Valued Patient:
We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our nation, state, and community have 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: Cornerstone Dental’s commitment to your safety.
Now that the State of Texas has issued orders and guidelines for the first phase of Re-Opening Texas during the ongoing pandemic, Cornerstone Dental will be opening our practice on a limited basis for non-essential and routine dental procedures. The days and hours that we will be open may vary throughout the week, depending on the demand. We will inform you as soon as possible if any changes to your scheduled appointment need to be made. Of course, we will be here, as always, to answer your emergency and essential dental needs.
While we understand and sympathize that some patients may still feel reluctance to return to dental health-care facilities during this initial phase, we also recognize that others may want to come in for that cleaning that they have had to put-off for far too long, or receive needed treatment that has been delayed by restrictions in place during this pandemic. For those of you that are ready to return, and those that we will welcome at a later date, we want to reassure you we will be taking all necessary precautions to ensure that your visit is safe and worry-free.
Infection control has always been a top priority in our practice as you have seen during your visits to our office. We want to remind you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep our patients and staff safe.
Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Center 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.
You may also see some changes at the office when you make an appointment during the coming weeks. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff and keep within or exceed the most recent guidelines as set forth by professional and governmental regulatory groups, which include, but are not limited to the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners (TSBDE), the previously mentioned CDC and ADA, and other state and federal agencies. These changes include:
- Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You will be asked those same questions again when you are in the office and will need to complete a Patient Survey form, which can be found on our website, www.cornerstone-dental.com, or can be emailed to you in advance. We will also screen you for fever with a scanning thermometer.
- If possible, please refer to this survey prior to your visit. If you have any symptoms identified in the survey, signs that might indicate an early viral or flu-like infection, unexplained cough, or a recent history of fever, please call us and we will discuss these things and reschedule your appointment if necessary.
- We ask you to follow social distancing rules including the wearing of face coverings in our waiting room and in the hallways of the office. Please bring your own face coverings, as there is still a significant shortage of these available professionally. Wear your covering before you enter the office and until you are in the treatment room and a staff member tells you that you can remove it. Please use your face covering again after your treatment is complete on your way to check-out. If you do not have your own face covering, a disposable clean and unused face mask will be provided for you, and there will be a charge of $2.00.
- We have hand sanitizer that we ask you to use after you enter the office. You will also find some in the check-out area and other places in the office for your use as needed.
- You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect. There will be fewer chairs and more spacing in between individual seating positions
- Please do not bring others to your appointment with you, unless you need to be accompanied by an adult, as in the case of children, or you need physical assistance, as in the case of elderly or disabled patients. We will do our best to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
- Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing. This will mean that there will be fewer options for scheduling appointments and that appointments will be scheduled further apart. We ask you to attempt to accommodate our available appointment times.
- You will be asked to do a brief pre-treatment intra-oral rinse with a solution of Chlorhexidine (a very safe intraoral antibiotic) and Hydrogen Peroxide prior to beginning any active treatment, including cleanings. If you think you have any allergy to any of these ingredients (which is extremely rare, if at all) please inform your treatment provider.
We realize that these newer precautions may be seem somewhat unfamiliar, but we are instituting them to provide the ultimate protection and reassurance to you, our other patients, and our staff.
We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we are taking to keep you, all our patients, and our staff safe and healthy in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at (972) 471-0800.
Thank you for entrusting Cornerstone Dental with your dental healthcare needs. We value your loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors, and friends.
Sincerely,
John N Kuhre, DDS and the Cornerstone Team
