COVID-19 Office Update

The office of Robert S. Minch DDS has resumed seeing patients. On top of everyone’s mind is what is happening regarding COVID-19. As a healthcare provider and employer, we take the responsibility of our patients, colleagues and community seriously. We are actively gathering and implementing the latest and most accurate information to be sure we are acting in accordance with all regulatory organizations.

It is important to note that our facility has always maintained high levels of sterility.  We will be following closely the CDC and ADA guidelines for appointment protocols. Every appointment will start with these steps:

1. COVID exposure questionnaire. The day before your appointment we will be contacting you by text or phone with a short 4 question questionnaire to make sure that you are healthy and have not been exposed to the Corona Virus in the past 14 days.

2. No waiting room. When you come to the office for your appointment, we ask that you stay in your car until we text/call you to let you know that we are ready for you. At that point, you will come up to the office and we will open the door for you (it will be otherwise locked).

3. Temperature check. Upon walking in, we will ask you to use hand sanitizer that is by the front door and we will take your temperature with a touchless thermometer to ensure that you are healthy for your appointment.

4. Pre-rinse. Either Corinne or Shirley will walk you back to their room and have you do a 30 second rinse with a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide; this helps inactivate the bacteria and germs in your mouth before they start their work.

5. Room Sanitation After your appointment and in preparation for the next appointment, the room is cleaned and wiped down thoroughly according to the strict CDC guidelines to ensure against any cross contamination.

Again, as per the CDC and the ADA, we will be looking a lot different! In addition to the normal gloves and masks that we have always used, we will be wearing a surgical gown to cover our uniforms. In many cases, we will be wearing 2 masks! One will be an N95 mask that protects you and us from any back and forth transmission of germs and a second mask over the N95 mask to help keep it uncontaminated. And lastly, we will be wearing a face shield to protect our eyes and areas of the face not covered by the mask(s).

Our office is going well beyond the CDC and ADA guidelines to ensure healthy air quality throughout the office. Dental procedures can produce aerosols in the air that might contain germs from your mouth. To that end, we are installing various new pieces of equipment to rapidly and thoroughly remove these aerosols from the air. These measures include but are not limited to:

1. Doubling the Normal High Velocity Suction We have installed a second suction line in each room for double the suction power to catch all the aerosols produced during your appointment.

2. Air Purification The CDC recommends that the HVAC system in a dental office have 6 air changes per hour; this is standard for most office buildings. We have installed industrial strength air purifiers in each operatory that will change the air in that room 20 times an hour- that is changing the air over every 3 minutes! Check out the company’s website for more info: https://surgicallycleanair.com/jade/

3. Air Cleaning We have also installed a unit that cleans the air of the entire office by using the same technology that NASA uses to keep the air in the Space Station healthy. It purifies the air by emitting molecules that attack and inactivate bacteria, viruses, mold and fungi in the air and on surfaces. For more information on this technology, look into the website: https://www.uvairx.com

We will ask you to not come to the office and reschedule your appointment if:

• You have a fever, cough or flu-like symptoms.

• You have been in contact with anyone that has been ill within the last 14 days.

• You have been tested for COVID-19 and are awaiting results.

• If you have traveled to any high-risk area within the last 14 days.

These are unprecedented times and we are meeting them with unprecedented measures. We look forward to seeing you soon.