Our COVID-19 Reopening Safety Measures: How We’re Working to Keep You Safe

During this pandemic, the College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario has released the most stringent infection control protocols in the dental industry. We have worked very hard and are completely compliant with these new guidelines.

We are still learning about this virus and until we know more or are on the other side of this pandemic we must do everything we can to keep everyone safe. What we do know about the coronavirus is that it is spread through droplets. Outside of a dental office this would be from sneezing or splatter from talking too closely. Inside a dental office, however, this would be from things such as rinsing, polishing, or ultrasonic scaling.

So what do we do?

Option 1:

Do not offer any of these services. Your dental hygiene visit would consist of hand scaling only. Professional cleanings are important to your overall health so this is a good temporary measure. It’s better than nothing, but not as effective as it could be.

The problem is what does ‘temporary’ mean? One month, three months, 12 months? At what point do we choose to do the things required to be able to offer optimal care? At the Dental Hygiene Group we believe the time is now, which is why we chose Option 2.

Option 2:

Do what has been outlined in our return to work guidelines that are based on the Chief Medical Officer and Public Health recommendations. It’s not easy, not cheap and means we were not the first to open or work at full capacity.

Here’s what these changes look like:

• HVAC assessment to determine the air exchange rate in the operatory, this information determines our fallow or wait time between clients.
• An upgrade in PPE. Besides our regular glasses and gloves, we are now required to upgrade our mask to an N95, wear a visor and use disposable gowns.
• Disinfect all touch points between clients instead of at the end of the day; this will include front desk area, pens, door handles, hand sanitizer bottle, point of sale machine and bathroom if it was used etc.
• Screening all clients prior to arrival and at time of their appointment including taking temperature.
• Limiting the amount of people accompanying our client, friends and family are no longer permitted to wait in the office only the client and guardian/caretaker if required.

All of these things are do-able, some are difficult implement, and the PPE is tough to source or are on back order but we have managed to get it all in order and are ready to see clients, even if it is with an hour wait time between them.

We are very excited to be back in full operation and welcoming back existing clients as well as new ones in the safest way possible.

If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to us directly.