6. Reception Room and Front Desk Safety Measures
7. Protocols of the Clinical Team
8. Patients in the Operatory
9. Protocols After the Clinical Treatment
Safety

Safety Measures in Our Dental Practice

1. Training and Educating Our Team

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• Our team has had refresher training in proper hand washing and hand sanitizing techniques. This may seem basic; however, it is the most important thing we can do to prevent spread of the virus. Research shows that it is often poorly complied with and usually not done well. Consequently, we have spent a lot of

time ensuring that our team does it well, especially before and after every patient encounter. • We have practiced the appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) prior to caring for a patient to prevent contamination.

• We encourage our staff that is not feeling well to proactively stay home. We have a backup team if someone is ill.

• We take everyone’s temperature at the beginning of every day, and we will immediately send home anyone with an elevated temperature.

• We have created a specific checklist of recommendations for our team to follow so that they arrive to work healthy and go home to their families without worry. (see Checklist of Recommendations for Our Team)

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• Clean and sanitize the phone handset after use.

• Clean and sanitize your desk at the end of the day

• We discourage cell phone use at work.

After work:

• Wash hands and arms with soap.

• Remove your scrubs and place them in washable bag or leave them at work.

• Wash your hands and put clean clothes on.

• Sanitize your phone, glasses, etc.

• Wash your hands again.

At Home:

• Do not touch anything.

• Remove your shoes and clothes.

• Wash your clothes/scrubs in a washing machine, with detergent and hot water.

• Shower with soap and water.

3. Patient Interviews and Social Distancing

Before your arrival, every effort is made to screen out patients at risk

• We filter patients during the phone call when scheduling appointments for care.

• We have a questionnaire designed to identify patients or workers who may be potential Covid-19 carriers.

• Any patients designated as a risk or a possible sub-clinical patient, will be rescheduled after an appropriate time delay and any symptoms have cleared.

• Patients are asked to call ahead and reschedule their appointment if they develop symptoms of a respiratory infection (e.g., cough, sore throat or fever) on the day they are scheduled to be seen.

To Promote Social Distancing

• We will prioritize high risk patients (immune compromised, over 60 y/o etc.) with preferential promptness, so as to minimize contact with other people.

• We are trying to limit patients in the waiting room to a minimum number.

• If a patient is being accompanied, their escort should wait in the car to limit the number of people in the waiting room and promote social distancing.

• Patients will be encouraged to wait in the mall, in their cars or outside the office, where they can be contacted by mobile phone when it is their turn to be treated.

Safety Measures Taken Upon Arrival

• There is hand sanitizer available at the garage parking level.

• There is only one street level entrance to the building, early in the morning, on St. Catherine street. There is hand sanitizer at the street entrance for your use.

• The landlord has installed markings for physical distancing in the hallway, at the elevators and is limiting elevators to two persons at a time.

• Disinfectant is to be used prior to entering the elevator and pushing the buttons.

• The elevator buttons are disinfected hourly by the landlord.

• We would appreciate it if visitors used the washrooms prior to their visit and washed their hands with soap, for 20 seconds, prior to entry to the clinic.

• We have one point of entry to the clinic. This door must be kept closed but there is hand sanitizer inside the door.

• We have signs at the front door, advising you not to enter the facility when ill.

• Tissues are available at the front door, and we ask you to use tissues to cover nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing. Please dispose of tissues and contaminated items in waste receptacles.

• We provide alcohol-based hand sanitizer and no-touch receptacles for disposal, at the entrance, in waiting rooms and at front desk.

• We assess patients for respiratory symptoms and fever (with a non-contact digital infrared forehead thermometer) and patients will be asked to review the health declaration.

• If fever, respiratory symptoms, or other health risks are present, you will be advised to seek medical treatment and your visit will be rescheduled.

ALL these measures can help to prevent transmission to others.

5. Measures Taken Upon Patient Entry to the Clinic

• If an examination room is not readily available, we ensure social distancing in the waiting room with seating spaced 6 feet apart. We have blocked off chairs as a temporary Covid 19 measure, to ensure separation.

• We removed all clutter and anything that is not easily disinfected from the waiting room, such as magazines and books.

• We do frequent wipe downs of the reception area, door handles, tables, light switches, computers, counter, etc.

6. Reception Room and Front Desk Safety Measures

• We installed clear plastic partitions, at the reception area, to limit close contact between reception workers and between reception and potentially infectious patients.

• We use head sets to minimize front back traffic, so as to isolate possible infection.

Eye Protection

• Eye protection (i.e., goggles or a disposable face shield that covers the front and sides of the face) is worn upon entry to the patient room or care area.

• We remove face sheilds before leaving the patient room or care area.

• Reusable eye protection (e.g., goggles) is cleaned and disinfected prior to re-use.

Gloves

• We put on clean gloves upon entry into the patient room or care area after hand hygiene.

• We change gloves if they become torn or heavily contaminated.

• We remove and discard gloves when leaving the patient room or care area, and immediately perform hand hygiene.

Gowns

• We put on a clean isolation gown upon entry into the patient room or area.

• We remove our gowns after use and place them in the bin for wash and disinfection after each patient. Our laundry service gives us clean gowns twice per week.

• Our laundered gowns are water repellant and have a 3-inch cuff for seal with the glove.

8. Patients in the Operatory

• Clinical staff follows infection control practices between patients (e.g., hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfecting shared equipment, use of disposable barriers).

• Our rooms undergo appropriate cleaning and surface disinfection before it is returned to routine use.

• To reduce possible contamination, we ask you to minimize your contact with objects in the operatory.

9. Protocols After the Clinical Treatment

• All non-disposable medical equipment used for patient care is cleaned and disinfected.

• Our environmental cleaning and disinfection procedures are followed consistently and correctly.

• Routine cleaning and disinfection procedures using hospital grade disinfectant spray and disinfectant wipes to frequently touched surfaces or objects.

• We have hired an extra staff person to help in room disinfection and room turn over by the assistants and hygienists, to further ensure a safe environment.

• It is important to note that all the routine disinfectants used in Dentistry, will kill Coronavirus very easily, immediately on contact. Covid is easy to kill.

• We installed Surgically Clean Air, Jade units, in each operatory. The air volume is entirely filtered 3 times in 9 minutes. The Jade units restore the air in each operatory, between every patient, to 99.99 % pure. These purifiers use hospital-grade, true HEPA filtration and ultraviolet technology to kill infectious pathogens including coronaviruses. In addition, they filter out aeromatic hydrocarbons in the activated charcoal filter, and ionize the air, to further clean.

• The Jade units were designed for coronavirus in Canada by Surgically Clean Air, a Canadian company in the Toronto area, in response to the SARS epidemic. They are considered state of the art in air filtration. We are very confident in our choice of technology to protect our air quality.

Safety Measures After the Visit

• We encourage payment by credit card, when possible, to limit contact and encourage social distancing with front desk.

• We can use our private conference rooms for more involved discussions or transactions away from the front desk, to further your isolation at the administration area.

• It is advisable to exit the clinic with a minimum of time after your treatment.

• We can review treatment plans, estimates and insurance forms via phone call, Zoom and email.

• Patients are encouraged to use hand sanitizer from the dispensers, before leaving the office.

At the End of the Day

• Our crew will clean and disinfect the office in preparation for the following day. We then have a cleaning crew from the building to complete the task. The building clean up team use masks and gloves routinely when engaged in their nightly routines.

We have reviewed our protocols and feel that the measures listed above will create a safe environment for all of us, patients and dental team members alike. We hope that our transparency will help you to feel safe and secure in the knowledge that we are taking your health and safety very seriously.