With all of the recent news regarding the spread of COVID-19, this is a great time to review our infection control procedures here at North Creek Family Dentistry and at home to help prevent the spread of any infectious disease. We take seriously the oath to do no harm to our patients, including avoiding transferring infections.
As at home, here at our clinic, the best thing we do very frequently to prevent the spread of infection is to wash our hands. This is the first thing every employee does when we enter the office and before we leave, before putting on gloves and after removing them. We also wash our hands after any breaks, or after touching our faces.
While working with any aerosols or water sprays, our clinical staff wears personal protective equipment, including a mask, gloves, eye-wear, and jacket. These items are removed when not in the clinical areas of the office. In addition, our staff keeps all scrubs and shoes here at our clinic where they are disinfected and cleaned, so that we are not wearing any clinical clothing items outside of the office and also not wearing any clothing items from home in the clinic.
Between patients, all clinical areas and materials are disinfected and sterilized following the guidelines set by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). Dental instruments are placed back into their cassettes and sterilized. Biohazardous materials, such as extracted teeth or needles are placed in appropriate biohazard containers. Working surfaces, chairs, computer keyboards, and any item that may have been exposed to aerosols are wiped with our disinfectant, CaviCide.
In addition to our normal clinical protocols, we also make every effort to disinfect the non-clinical areas of the office, including the waiting room, reception, restrooms, halls, and office and break areas. Counters, chairs, doorknobs, and other surfaces are frequently wiped with disinfectant wipes. Floors are mopped and restrooms thoroughly cleaned and disinfected regularly.
All these precautions are standard procedure for us, and have been in place from the time we first opened. While recent events have led us to all be extra careful and mindful of our actions, patients can rest assured that we take infectious disease seriously at our office and continue to make every effort to prevent the spread of these to any visitors.
With this in mind, if you believe you may be at high risk for acquiring or spreading air-borne illnesses like COVID-19, we are happy to reschedule your appointment for a later date. You can help protect yourself by frequent hand washing and avoiding close contact with other individuals. Here is a link to the CDC’s most recent information and guidelines: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html
