Dear patients and parents,

We hope that this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot in the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same at our office—our commitment to your safety.  

You will see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made the following changes to help protect our patients and staff: 

            • Our office will communicate with you within 48 hours before your appointment to ask some COVID -19 pre-screening questions. You will be asked these same questions again when you arrive at our office.
            • Infection control has always been a top priority in our practice so that, when you receive care, it is both safe and comfortable. Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the California Dental Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agency’s recommendations. Our team will be wearing the necessary PPE including face shield, masks, gloves, and gowns for our mutual protection. 
            • We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use before you enter our office, after the screening is conducted. You will also find hand sanitizer in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed. 
            • We will take and record your temperature upon arrival at our office as a part of the screening process. 
            • Masks must always be worn by all patients for the entire visit. We will have the patient remove their mask for the procedure only.  
            • Please call us from the parking lot when you arrive at 650-871-1430 so that we may meet you at the door to proceed with the screening. Upon entering the building, you may see that our reception room will no longer offer magazines or toys and that most of the chairs in the reception room have been placed to allow for social distancing. 
            • Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. This might mean you are offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment, and this is the protocol we must take to ensure everyone’s safety. We appreciate your continued understanding with respect to the availability of certain types of appointments.  
            • We ask that parents, siblings and friends wait in the car to help us maintain social distancing in the office.  One parent (with a mask) can enter the office with a young child for treatment. 
            • We may ask you to do a pre-procedural mouth rinse if you will have an aerosol generating procedure. 

We are doing everything possible to make sure you feel safe and welcome in this new environment.  Thank you for continuing to entrust your dental care to our experienced team. We sincerely appreciate your trust and loyalty and very much look forward to seeing you again and welcoming you back into our practice.
Sincerely,

Dr Catherine Vista and Team

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