Dear Friends,
We are happy to announce that we will be reopening our office at a limited capacity on [highlight]Monday, May 18th[/highlight]. Our entire team is eager and excited to get back to treating our patients.
At Hughes & Hughes Family Dentistry, our goal has always been to provide the highest quality dental care in a safe environment for both our patients and our team. With that goal in mind, and after significant research, we have made some changes to our policies to meet the challenge of COVID-19 and the goal to keep everyone safe.
At present, we are not scheduling professional cleaning appointments. We are awaiting some clarification from the Pennsylvania Dental Association, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the CDC in regard to providing hygiene treatment safely and with the same level of care we have always provided. As soon as we get the clarification we need, we will start scheduling appointments.
Initially, we will be scheduling patients who need the following treatment:
- Follow up on emergency patients that were seen by Dr. Mike during our shutdown
- Completion of treatment that was started prior to the shutdown
- New patient examination
- Consultations
- New emergency treatment
- Noncomplex or non-extensive treatment
If we proceed with caution and open our office to treatment in this fashion we are confident that we will be able to resume routine care in early June.
To schedule or reschedule an appointment that was postponed during our shutdown please send us a message or give us a call at 610-942-3321.
What we are doing to keep everyone safe:
- Our entire team will be wearing protective attire to reduce the risk of exposure.
- Our treatment rooms will be cleaned and sanitized after every procedure, as they always have been, with high-level disinfectants effective against the COVID–19 virus.
- We will continue to meet the highest standards of instrument sterilization.
- Aerosols will be reduced in all of our treatment rooms as they always have been.
- Patients will be asked to perform pre-treatment rinses as an added safety measure.
- We have installed “Air Scrubbers” into our HVAC systems, which use increased filtration and UV light to help sanitize the air in our building.
What we ask from our patients:
- We will ask that if any of our patients are experiencing a fever, cough, cold, flu-like aches, stomach upset, sore throat, sudden loss of smell or fatigue, or have been in contact with anyone with these symptoms in the last 14 days to please reschedule their appointment.
- Screenings of our scheduled patients will be conducted before their visits by taking the patient’s temperature and asking each patient to answer a few questions about their health. Time will be built into appointments for this screening.
- Reception area wait time will be minimized by scheduling effectively and, when possible, meeting patients in the parking lot to escort them directly to treatment rooms. You will be advised of these steps upon making your appointment.
- Patients in the office will be required to wear a mask. If you don’t have one, we will provide you with one when you come in. This is for your safety as well as our staff and other patients.
- Magazines and self-serve water and coffee have been removed from the reception area. However, we will be happy to get these refreshments for you at your request.
- Traffic flow in the office hallways will be kept at a safe distance.
At Hughes & Hughes Family Dentistry, our entire team is prepared for the challenge of safely treating our patients. If you have any questions about how we are handling things, please call our office to speak with a team member. We look forward to seeing you and treating your needs.
Sincerely,
Dr. Hughes, Dr. Mike, Dr. Berges, and our entire team
