Covid 19 Protocol
Zerbe and Richey Dentistry Re-Opening Protocol
We hope this message finds you and your family happy and in good health. The world and our community have been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our regular routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety. Zerbe and Richey Dentistry is devoted to our loyal dental family, its safety and the safety of our team.
Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice as you may have seen during your visits to our office. Our attention to the details of infection control, many of which you may have never noticed or been aware of, make your visit to our office both safe and comfortable.
Our office follows and surpasses infection control recommendations made by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the American Dental Association (ADA). We are monitoring these agencies daily to ensure that we are up to date on any new rulings or guidance, to make sure our infection control procedures are current and to adhere to each agencies’ recommendations. While navigating through the mountains of information on infection and safety, you can be assured that the professional care delivered in our family environment is unwavering.
You are going to notice some adjustments and modifications in several areas throughout your visit with us, starting before your reserved time with our team. We’d like to share the infection control procedures we follow in our practice and enhancements that have been made to help protect our patients and staff. They include:
• Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You will be asked those same questions again when you are in the office, as well as taking your temperature before being brought to a treatment room.
• All our dental team will be screened daily in the same manner as the patients.
• We will have you call or text upon your arrival to the parking lot and we will let you know when your treatment room is ready, thereby limiting the number of people in the practice at one time.
• We ask that if you are able, please come to your appointment by yourself. The patient will be the only one allowed in the office, unless accompanying a minor or a patient needing assistance (i.e. Wheelchair, driver, etc.).
• We will require that each person entering the dental office wear a face covering (CDC recommendation).
• We request you use the hand sanitizer provided when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for your use.
• You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect. Waiting room seating is limited.
• Appointments will be scheduled to allow for social distancing and enhanced disinfecting between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
• Air purifiers/filters placed throughout the office.
• Protective eyewear for our patients during dental procedure.
• Pre-procedural rinse prior to treatment.
• Enhanced personal protective equipment for the clinical dental team, including, K/N95 masks, level 3 masks, head caps, face shields and/or eye protection as well as dedicated workplace shoes that are disinfected daily and left in the practice.
• We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
• Cleaning services will continue daily after all patient visits are complete as well as electrostatic disinfectant fogging during the lunch hour and at the end of the day.
We look forward to seeing your smile soon and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, every patient, and our team safe. Thank you for your patience with us while we are working to accommodate all our dental family.
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Sincerely,
Drs. Lindley Zerbe DDS and Wayne Richey DDS