E Post SIP / Covid Letter

April 2022 

Dear Patients,

We hope this letter finds you and your family in great health and spirits. Our community, and the world itself, has been through a lot over the last few years, and all of us are looking forward to a new "normal", hopefully resuming some of pre-COVID habits and routines. While the presence of COVID-19 has changed many things, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your health and safety. 

We have been happy to see many of you as you have returned for your dental visits and are happy to have met many new faces. Despite the reducing number of COVID-19 and its variants cases and loosening of restrictions businesses, we are aware that the virus is still present and has been shown to survive in aerosols for hours and on some surfaces for days. Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it's both as safe and as comfortable as possible.

Infection control procedures we are following in our practice have helped to keep patients and staff safe during this challenging time and we will continue to ask you to take care of us and each other. As a private health dental facility, we are asking patients to continue to wear a mask when entering our office. 

We will still be taking your temperature upon arrival. We will ask that you try to limit your time and exposure in our office. Many patients like to arrive early and as we have the beautiful grounds around us, we would still like to limit the number of people in the reception area. Please feel free to explore and enjoy the beauty around us should you arrive early. 

Our office is following infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Department of Public Health and the City of Berkeley specific to Alameda County. We follow the recommendations of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we actively navigate this fluid situation.

These are a few of the visible changes you will see in our office at your next visit: 

• HEPA 13 Air Filters: We have obtained several medical grade HEPA13 air filters that will be running 24/7 in all working spaces including all operatories, laboratories and waiting areas. 
• Flooring: You may notice the old carpet has been removed and that we have replaced it with a beautiful luxury vinyl flooring that we can keep clean and sanitize easily 
• Room Isolation: Due to the geography of our office we are working on isolating each operation with sealed barriers for proper containment of the aerosols emitted during certain procedures. 
• Physical Barriers: We have installed a plexi-glass screen barrier at our front reception window. 
• Waiting room: We have also replaced the old furniture and couches with some nice new comfortable and cleansable chairs & tables. Our waiting room will unfortunately no longer offer magazines, pens, or any shared items, as these things are difficult to clean and disinfect.

We also will be implementing some key new & necessary office protocols: 

• We are trying to limit the number of people in the office and limit exposures so we would ask that if you can, please continue to come alone, exceptions being minors and caretakers. 
• Office Communication: For our patients without internet or email access, our office staff will be contacting them directly for Covid-19 pre-screening a few days prior to the dental appointment. We may also be mailing the Covid-19 pre-screening forms to anyone who is not able to access it online. We may ask you those same questions again when you are in the office. · Covid-19 Patient Screening Form: For the patients who are able to access the forms online, we ask that you please go online, complete and submit your ADA Covid-19 Patient Screening Form at least 3 days before your scheduled dental appointment. We need to be able to review these forms at least 2 days before you arrive for your appointment. Go to www.mirhaditongdds.com, and select "Patient Forms," then select "Patient Registration Form," and complete the ADA Covid-19 Patient Screening Form. Again please complete the form and submit it at least 3 days before your appointment. 
• Reducing cross contamination risks: Please bring your own pen to your appointments to avoid any unnecessary contact. If not, we will give you a clean one to keep.
• Social Distancing practices: We want to minimize patient interactions and try to maintain some social distancing measures in place. We are changing our schedule to allow greater time between patients to allow for proper room decontamination, cleaning, and to allow us to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time. · Wear a mask: We ask that you wear and keep your mask on until you are seated and our staff asks you to remove it. 
• Appointment and & check-in/check-out processes: Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. Your appointments may be scheduled in your clinical operatory when possible so that we can avoid any stopping at the front desk. · Hygiene visits: ultrasonic scalers are now being used and polishing is being performed; items that were limited during SIP and earlier in the covid pandemic. 

We know that these are a lot of changes, but they are new and necessary during this pandemic time for your safety and the safety of others as well as our staff. We appreciate your patience and understanding, as members of our team will be reaching out to all of the patients we have had to cancel, and get you all rescheduled as soon as we are able. We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we are taking to keep you safe in our practice. 

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming you back very soon! 

Sincerely always, 

Dr. Mirhadi, Dr. Tong & Staff