There has been almost nothing routine about 2020. We’ve hit “pause” on travel, holidays, weddings, birthdays, graduations, and so much more—including routine medical appointments—in an effort to stay safe.

We always recommend that patients visit the dentist at least twice a year to keep your mouth healthy and clean, and skipping just one cleaning can put you behind. Without two cleanings a year, you expose your mouth to the risk of bacteria growth which can cause decay and disease. While skipping a routine cleaning or other visit to avoid the risk of COVID-19, you run the risk of dealing with big problems in the future.

While it may seem scary to visit any sort of medical office in the midst of a global pandemic, we want you to rest assured that you will be safe and protected inside our doors. In the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, dentistry was listed as one of the professions at highest risk of virus transmission because of the close proximity of dentists and their patients. We understand why patients might have been hesitant to visit the office for this reason.

However, there has been no evidence of coronavirus transmission in dental offices since many reopened at the beginning of the summer. In fact, an American Dental Association Science & Research Institute and Health Policy Institute study in October found that the COVID-19 rate among dentists is less than 1%.

Since we were able to reopen in July, our office has implemented strict guidelines to maintain hygiene and cleanliness in our office—on surfaces, in the air, and everywhere in between. We have gone above and beyond the CDC’s recommended precautions to ensure that our office is safe, healthy, and comfortable.

In addition to deep cleans and social distancing, we’ve:

• installed high-grade medical negative pressure rooms to eliminate aerosols from the room during treatments to prevent transmission of germs between patients
• added hospital-grade filters to the HVAC ducting to attract and capture airborne particles and allergens
• installed UV-C lighting to deactivate the DNA of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens in the air and on surfaces. These measures destroy a virus’ ability to cause disease

We want you to feel comfortable coming to the office and are always available to answer any questions you might have about how we are keeping patients safe.

We hope to see you soon! Schedule your next appointment by calling 408.227.1404 or scheduling via our online tool.