North Creek Family Dentistry will be closed for routine appointments for the remainder of the month. We wish good health for all our patients, staff, and loved ones and have made this decision out of an abundance of caution. Keeping our community healthy is one of the main goals of our clinic, and at this time the best thing we can do to achieve that goal is to aid in social distancing.
Here is some additional information about COVID-19 relating to dentistry:
On Monday 3/16/20, the American Dental Association and Nebraska Dental Association both came out with recommendations that dental offices close from now until April 1st except for emergency treatment. The goal of temporarily closing is to aid in social distancing to “flatten the curve” or slow the spread of coronavirus. Here is a link to the NDA’s official statement: https://www.nedental.org/member-center/covid-19-update
Dental offices are seen as a place where there is potential for spread of the virus due to aerosols and water sprays created during many common treatments. Also, compared with other areas of healthcare, many dental appointments can be put off for a couple of weeks without damaging effects to the patient. Due to this, there has been pressure for dental offices to close so that the disinfectants and personal protective equipment we regularly use for all patient appointments can be redirected to hospitals and clinics treating patients in critical need of care immediately.
At this time, we are able to complete exams. These do not generate aerosols that would spread the virus. This will also allow us to make a treatment plan for the future and prescribe any necessary medications. During exams, we will only have one patient at a time at the office. We will also be limiting our staff, and ask that patients not bring any additional family members or other persons with them to their appointment. We will be screening patients over the phone and upon entering the office to prevent anyone who has the potential to expose others to coronavirus from entering our clinic. We also ask for the help of our patients in letting us know if they are experiencing any symptoms of coronavirus. Here is a link to updated CDC information about coronavirus. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html
We look forward to resuming our normal schedule in April. In the meantime, we will continue to answer phone calls and emails, so don’t hesitate to contact our office with questions.
