We Have Reopened!

These past weeks and months of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic have been a very difficult time for all of us. Many of you have been forced to wait for dental care, and we greatly appreciate your understanding while we kept our office procedures limited to emergency care to help control the spread of COVID-19.

We are happy to say that we have reopened our office for normal patient treatment and services, with some noticeable changes that help us to combat viral spread. Your health and well-being continue to be our highest priority, and we are only opening up our services having carefully planned and revised our office procedures to greatly minimize the risk of infection for our patients and our team members. Rest assured, we are also continuing to seek out and follow every guideline put forth by the CDC, the ADA, the Wisconsin Dental Association, along with local health authorities.

The measures we will be taking to provide a safe dental treatment experience include, but are not limited to, the following:

Office Environment

• Each of our staff members will have temperatures checked upon arrival at the office each day. Any staff member showing signs of a fever or other symptoms of illness will not be allowed to work.
• Patients will be screened before entering the office and temperatures will be checked. Any patients showing signs of a fever or other symptoms of illness will be asked to reschedule their appointment.
• Patients are encouraged to wait in their cars or outside the office until their scheduled appointment time.
• Whenever possibly, only patients will be allowed entry into the office. Those accompanying patients to the office will be asked to remain outside or in their cars.
• Commonly handled items in the waiting room (magazines, remote controls, children’s toys) have been removed.
• Hand sanitizer is available throughout the office, and patients will be asked to use it upon their arrival.
• Waiting room surfaces will continue to be thoroughly sanitized daily.
• Social distancing of 6 feet will be enforced within the waiting room.
• We will ask that you continue to practice social distancing measures in common areas of the office, including the front desk.
• There will be no physical contact with patients with the exception of treatment.

During Treatment

• All rooms will be completely sterilized before each patient is seated; and public areas, including restrooms, will be cleaned and sterilized frequently throughout the day.
• Our team will strictly follow guidelines set forth by the CDC, OSHA, ADA, and WDA in regard to personal protective equipment (PPE) and office sterilization.
• During patient care, face shields will be worn by everyone and thoroughly sanitized between patients.
• All dental health professionals – dentists, hygienists, and dental assistants – will be wearing approved N95 respirators in addition to their normal surgical masks.
• All surfaces that came in contact with the patient will be wiped with disinfectant at the close of each appointment.

Please be aware that we are proceeding with an abundance of caution. We want you to feel as confident as we do that any visit you make to our office will be a safe one.

We also realize that many of you have been impacted financially during this outbreak: We have solutions to help keep dental care affordable for you and your family.

-Dr. Ryan and the Neighborhood Smiles Dental Team