Visit your dental clinic in the midst of Covid-19

Like so many patients, you may be anxious to visit your dental clinic in the midst of Covid-19. Yet, many are eager to come in for their routine dental checkup or to seek care for their oral health issues. Regardless of the reason, we at Emerald View Dental want to reassure you that we have taken every necessary precaution to keep you and your family safe, while continuing to provide the highest quality of dental care every day. The health and safety of our patients, the public, and our practitioners remains our top priority. Therefore, all of our clinical protocols will put safety first.
The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario has implemented a set of guidelines for COVID-19, which can be accessed here.
We at Emerald View Dental have gone above the Royal College guidelines to ensure the safety of our patients while providing high quality dental care. We are following every guideline set forth by the local and regional health authorities (ODA, RCDSO, and Ministry of Health).

Here’s what we’re doing to keep you safe:
•    Screening. Every individual who enters our clinic must undergo COVID-19 symptoms screening upon arrival to the office. Unless considered urgent and at risk of medical compromise, those showing any signs/symptoms of COVID-19 are asked to refrain from coming to the office until diagnostic tests confirm a negative COVID-19 result. As further protocol, every individual’s body temperature is taken and documented at the time of entry. 
•    Masking. Anyone entering our clinics is required to wear a mask. Please be sure to bring a mask with you to your appointment. Those that require it are provided with a complimentary mask. Only exceptions are individuals specifically deemed by Health Canada as not needing / unable to wear a mask.
•    Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). All staff/dentists are mandated to wear full PPE including isolation gowns, impervious lab coats, face shields, higher-level masks (N95 in aerosol generating procedures), gloves, and specialized products and equipment to control aerosols. 
•    Aerosol-mitigation Devices (HVAC) All rooms in which aerosol is generated is equipped with HVAC system. This system minimizes the aerosol particles and reduces any risk of exposure.
•    Social Distancing. Our waiting rooms and operatories have been rearranged to minimize contact and promote social distancing.  A plexi-glass has also been installed to further limit contact between patients and staff. To maintain social distancing, unless the patient is a minor or with a disability requiring support, we ask that patients are not accompanied by others when arriving to clinic.
•    Disinfection Protocol. In addition to standard infection control protocols, we have enhanced our cleaning procedures. A refractory time period of at least 20 minutes is enforced after each aerosol generating procedure with which the room is not used.
•    Removal of Non-essential items. We have removed nonessential items from waiting rooms and operatories to mitigate surfaces for germ accumulation.
•    Reduced Traffic. Appointment times are staggered to reduce patient flow. Patients are scheduled such that only 1 patient is in the office at any given time unless patients are members living in the same household.  
We understand that it is a challenging time for everyone. We are with you and maintain our pledge in providing the highest quality of dental care in the safest possible manner. Should you have any further questions, we invite you to contact us.
Together, we will all get through this.

Your Dental Family,

-Emerald View Dental