New Office Procedures
Dear Parent & Patients,
We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Everyone has been through a lot over the last few weeks, and we are all looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to everyone’s safety.
Infection control has always been a top priority for Mertes Pediatric Dentistry, and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it is both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients, staff and parents safe.
Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Ohio State Dental Board (OSDB). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations.
You will see changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients, parents and staff. We will be updating our website over the next several days to inform you of the changes we have implemented for everyone’s safety. These are a few of the changes:
- Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You will be asked those questions again when you arrive at the office and your temperature will be taken.
- We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
- You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect. Also, chairs will be staggered in the reception area at least 6 feet apart.
- Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. When you come to the office it may not seem “as busy.” This is being done by design to achieve maximum social distancing.
- Expanded hours and days are being implemented to create more appointment availability while adhering to social distancing.
We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at 330-655-5437.
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Sincerely,
Dr. Greg, Dr. Kelsey and Team
