Post-Covid Reopening Protocols

Dear Mastrovich Dental Family,

We are excited to have the opportunity to welcome you back while continuing to support your health and safety!

What our ‘soft’ or gradual re-opening means to you is that we are in the process of re-working our schedule to allow additional time between appointments for the new Covid-19 disinfecting protocols, scheduling only one patient at a time in the office, for now. This means we will be calling our patients that have future pre-scheduled appointments to reschedule and allow the additional time between appointments, and we will be calling to reschedule those patients who had appointments in March, April and May.

In light of the Covid-19 Pandemic, we have instituted additional guidelines and protocols to safeguard patients and team members.

We always prioritize wellness, and especially so in this time of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Department, we can re-open, and as a ‘soft’ re-opening, we will begin by scheduling the procedures with the least amount of aerosol, as we add new protective coronavirus cleaning protocols to the CDC procedures we have continuously employed for disinfecting, sterilizing and keeping patients and team safe and healthy. For this reason, hygiene appointments will be the last to re-open, estimated for early July.

We are initially scheduling just one patient at a time in the office for treatment.

In keeping our patients’ and team’s best interest at heart we have a new Social Distancing and Sanitation Protocol and key elements of our specific protocols are summarized below:

For Distancing:

We are initially scheduling just one patient at a time in the office for treatment. As time passes and CDC updates are implemented, this may change.
We screen each patient for covid-19 symptoms when we schedule and again the day before the appointment, with the list of questions that are asked again upon arrival and the screen form signed. Our staff are screened daily for covid-19 symptoms, as well.
We ask each patient to wait in their car upon arrival at the office and text or call us to let us know they have arrived (‘check-in’)
We let the patient know when we are ready to meet them at the front door, and with their permission, take their forehead temperature with an infrared thermometer
Both staff and patients, must wear a covering over their nose and mouth while in the office
We ask each patient entering the office to utilize the contactless hand sanitizer station immediately inside the door, prior to proceeding directly to the treatment room
We are respectfully requesting ‘patients only’ in the office, unless there is a medical reason for another person to assist the patient

For Added Sanitation Beyond Our Prior Ongoing Procedures:

We have installed four new Molekule Air Purifiers in the office
Our air conditioner filters upgraded with four 11-13 MERV ( certified HEPA) air filters throughout the office
Enhanced operatory/treatment room disinfection procedures before and after all appointments with mist/fogging devices to remove particles from the air and access hard to reach places
Introduce protocols to reduce or eliminate airborne aerosols during dental procedures (such as high speed suction, and rubber dams)
Several additional PPE items (face shields, gowns and masks) have been added for staff members to provide barriers against the smallest of germs
We have introduced an antimicrobial oral pre-rinse (Peroxyl) by all patients to reduce exposure to germs
We have set up plexiglas partitions around the scheduling desks to reduce contamination and act as sneeze guards or droplet barriers
Treatment and common areas will be disinfected throughout the day, including door handles, pens, clipboards, faucet handles, payment devices, computers, keyboards, telephones, chairs, and buttons etc
Removed magazines and items that can harbor or transfer germs
Payment arrangements made in advance to avoid delay and allow contactless exit from the appointment, whenever possible