Dear patients,
We are genuinely excited to see your smiling faces again soon! The safety of our patients and our team is of paramount importance. To ensure a safe experience at our clinic, we have updated protocols and have made changes in accordance with the recommendations from the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Toronto Public Health.
Preparing For Your Appointment
- A ‘Healthy Patient’ screening questionnaire will be conducted on the phone prior to your appointment. Only healthy patients can be seen in the clinic.
- Arrive fifteen minutes before your appointment. Stay in your car and call our office to let us know you’ve arrived (Tel: 905-338-1126).
- Only patients will be allowed in the clinic.
- Magazines, books, and other touch materials have been removed from the waiting room. Please arrive without food, drink, or any other items that need to be attended to.
- Everyone must wear a mask when entering the office. This can be a handkerchief, a scarf, or a garment if you do not have a surgical mask. A mask will be provided should you have no covering or mask available to use.
- Patient washrooms will no longer be available for use, so be sure to keep this in mind when leaving your home. Exceptions may be made for emergencies.
Arriving At Your Appointment
- Arrive at your appointment wearing a mask. If you do not have one, then one will be provided for you. Please let us know when you call us from the parking lot.
- Prior to entering the office, perform hand hygiene using our provided 70% alcohol-based hand sanitizer at the entranceway and wait for a staff member to receive you.
- A staff member will triage you and clear you to enter the clinic where you will be directed straight to your private treatment or consultation room. You will likely be the only patient in the office at your appointment time. We want to minimize traffic to keep you feeling safe.
During Your Appointment
- Patients will be escorted to the treatment room by one of our staff. Please keep your mask on until you are inside the room. You may remove your mask when the consultation or treatment is about to begin. You will also notice we will be wearing additional special protective gear to ensure your and our safety.
- At the end of your appointment, you will be asked to put your mask back on prior to your departure from the treatment room.
- You will not leave the room until cleared to leave by a staff member so that we can confirm you are the only one in the waiting room when you are making payment and leaving our clinic. We want there to be no crossing of patients. For your safety, the next patient will not be called into the office until you have checked out and left the clinic.
After Your Appointment
- Credit or debit card payments are preferred to minimize any risk of contamination. This can be made prior to your appointment over the phone if you like to prevent you from needing to use the terminal in the clinic.
How We Are Ensuring Staff and Patient Safety
- All staff will be screened before work and before they leave the office.
- Plexiglass barriers have been installed at the reception desk areas for additional protection.
- We have closed-door sealed treatment rooms with floor-to-ceiling walls and doors to limit cross-contamination.
- We have installed Surgically Clean Air air purifiers (an air circulation unit with HEPA filtering and internal UV light sanitation) to optimize the air quality by killing bacteria, viruses, and fungi as well as eliminate the amount of aerosol in the clinic.
- For any procedures that require an aerosol generating device, we have a Special Enhanced Treatment Vacuum that is positioned near the patient’s mouth to suction any aerosols not captured by the internal surgical suction. This special unit has an internal HEPA filter and UV light to kill any bacteria, viruses, and fungi in the sucked up aerosols. This special Vacuum unit and the Surgically Clean Air Filter Unit in the rooms will ensure no aerosols are in the air after treatments, providing a clean air environment. Additionally, we will be leaving the rooms empty for a fallow period to allow things to settle and get disinfected prior to having another patient in the same treatment room.
- Clinical staff will wear the full personal protective equipment (PPE) recommended for each procedure, including gloves, gown, face masks, and face shields. Administrative staff will wear face masks when necessary.
- Staff will be kept to a minimum on-site.
- Treatment rooms will continue to be sanitized and cleaned between patient appointments.
- Door handles and common surface areas will be wiped down throughout the day after each patient.
- The number of patients seen per day will be reduced in order to adhere to the new strict protocols to ensure patient safety in our clinic. Likely you will be the only patient in the clinic during your treatment time in order to ensure your safety.