At Tuscarora Family Dental Care, we want you to rest assured that your safety is our top priority. We know that these are uncertain times, so we want to be open and honest with you in providing answers to questions that you may have concerning the novel coronavirus and how we are taking care of our patients.
Patient safety is our top priority. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, our office followed strict infection control and patient safety guidelines that would have prevented the transmission of the novel coronavirus (or any other virus) to our patients or staff. In an abundance of caution, we have increased the frequency and thoroughness of our sanitizing procedures and we are following or exceeding all safety procedures recommended by the Center for Disease Control, American Dental Association, and OSHA.
We have always cleaned our waiting area every night. Now, we’re also cleaning it throughout the day and paying special attention to wiping down chairs, door handles, and other things patients frequently touch. We have also made changes in our scheduling to allow for increased social distancing. We have also asked that, if possible, patients remain in their cars and call the office upon arrival. When the office has been fully disinfected, patients will be retrieved from their car and guided directly to the treatment room by a staff member.
To our knowledge, we have not had any patients test positive that have been in the office since the outbreak began. We are screening each patient for risk of exposure before treating them, and we are postponing their treatment if they are showing signs of illness or have traveled recently. If anyone tests positive for the virus in our office, we will contact local health authorities and follow their guidelines.
None of our staff members in the office are presently ill or have needed to be tested. If a staff member is showing symptoms, we require that individual to stay home under normal circumstances. Now, we’re being especially careful and recommending that anyone with fever, cough, shortness of breath or body aches and chills sees their doctor as soon as possible and self-quarantine.
If you or anyone in your household is sick, or under quarantine for any reason, we would prefer to postpone your appointment for at least three weeks. In order to ensure the safety of our community and patients, please inform us if you need to cancel your appointment due to possible illness.
Patient safety is a group effort! We are continuing to practice social distancing at our office until it is completely safe to do otherwise. We ask that you do your part and avoid bringing other family members to your appointment unless they are also receiving treatment or if you need them to provide you with transportation or assistance.
We understand that unforeseen reasons for cancellations may pop up and you may have other concerns on your mind. While we do still ask that you give us as much advance notice as possible if you won’t be able to visit us, we will not be charging missed appointment fees during this time. Because our office is operating on an appointment-only basis, we are also waiving all after-hours fees for emergencies appointments outside of our regular work days.
We understand that COVID-19 has put many of our patients into challenging financial situations. If you find it difficult to pay for your necessary dental care, we would be happy to discuss options to ease your burden. At our office, we make sure dental care remains affordable by offering our in-house Dental Membership Plan, as well as partnering with financing companies such as CareCredit, Wells Fargo, and Alpheon.