Along with other dental offices in Virginia, We Care Dental Care is now open for business, and Dr. Benjamin Burkitt is seeing non-emergency patients for routine preventive care and other treatments. But is it really safe to bring your child to the dentist during the COVID-19 outbreak? In this blog, we’ll discuss a few of the changes we’ve made to our office to protect your little ones as they get the dental care they need.
Before your child’s appointment, we will contact you with a CDC-recommended questionnaire about recent travel and potential exposure to COVID-19. We’ll also ask whether anyone in your family has had any symptoms that could indicate COVID-19 exposure, including shortness of breath, dry cough, or fever.
If you or your child are feeling symptoms, we may ask that you reschedule your appointment for a date in the future when you’ve been symptom-free for at least 7 days. This will help protect the health of patients and staff members at our office.
We have made some changes to our waiting area. Some of our chairs have been removed to ensure that you and your kids can maintain the proper distance from other patients who are waiting. We have also removed pamphlets and magazines as well as children’s toys from the waiting area, as these are frequently-handled, hard to clean, and are a potential vector for COVID-19 exposure.
We have also made some changes to scheduling to limit patient-to-patient interaction in our waiting room. We are spacing out appointments over longer periods of time to reduce the number of people who are in our office at any given time.
We have always followed OSHA, CDC and ADA-required hand hygiene protocols, including washing hands before and after seeing a patient, before and after putting on gloves, and after touching any potentially-soiled surface.
Our team members have also been trained to use proper cough and respiratory hygiene, including safe disposal of tissues, sneezing and coughing into the elbow, and washing hands after exposure to respiratory secretions.
We are cleaning all common areas and frequently-touched surfaces like countertops, doorknobs, bathrooms, tables, and chairs with EPA-registered disinfectant to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, such as the flu.
Our dental team members have always worn PPE like eye protection, gloves, and surgical masks. But we are now following new CDC guidelines and wearing face shields, gowns, and even head and shoe coverings for certain appointments. This ensures the safety of our team members, and your little ones!
At We Care Dental Care, we are always here to help your child get the care they need in Roanoke. And we’re taking every precaution we can to ensure their safety and comfort, even during COVID-19. So don’t wait. If your child needs dental care, give us a call at (540) 427-7274 or contact us online to schedule an appointment right away.