COVID-19 Office Update

Dear Patient:

We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.

As of 7am yesterday morning 5/7/2020, the Maryland State Government has given the green light for both emergency and non emergency dental procedures to begin again. Aqua Cosmetic & Family Dentistry will be reopening on a limited and cautionary basis with our patients' and our team's safety as our top priority. We will not be back to full capacity till we obtain all mandated personal protective equipment required by Maryland State rgulatory agencies to safely see our patients for elective and non-urgent cases.

Infection control has always been one of our top priority for our practice 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’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Maryland Health Department. 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 may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

1. Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office and few days later after your visit.
2. 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.
3. All visitors to our practice are expected to wear a mask, covering their mouth and nose when entering our office.
4. 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.
5. We will ask you to wait in your car until your room is ready. We will do the screening questions while you wait in your car and we will take your temperature while you are in your car.
6. Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointments. Please let us know if you are not be able to keep your appointment within 24 hours so it can be offered to another patient on waiting list.
7. If you are sick, please stay home and let us know so we can reschedule you for a later date.
8. Out of an abundance of concerns for your health and ours, we ask you to limit extra companions on the trip to your dental appointment to only patient and a guardian to reduce the number of people in the reception area. We appreciate your cooperation in advance and thank you for your patience.
9. We will do our best to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce/eliminate the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
10. Not all procedures will be performed at this time, so please be patient as we navigate this situation and take steps to get back to normal.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have . Our office will contact all you to schedule your canceled appointments due to COVID-19 closure or to reappoint your near future appointment as needed.

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.

Sincerely
Aqua Cosmetic and Family Dentistry Team.