What Steps Are Being Taken to Sterilize the Office?
We prioritize keeping our office in excellent shape for our patients. You can rest assured that we pride ourselves in our focus on sterilizing and cleaning every part of our office — from the space itself to instruments we use to keep your mouth healthy.
One of our first and most effective lines of defense against pathogens is keeping our hands thoroughly washed with disinfecting soap. Our team members have been instructed to wash their hands at regular intervals throughout the day — several times an hour — as well as between seeing each patient.
That attitude toward sanitization extends to the rest of the surfaces in the office. Multiple times throughout our office hours, we are wiping down surfaces and keeping everything sanitary. This includes high-traffic points in the office, such as doors, chairs, restrooms, countertops, and pens. Pathogens can live on surfaces long after they are left there, which is why we have an eye for detail when it comes to attacking dust and keeping everything clean.
We also clean our examination rooms after every appointment. Before we see the next patient, we wipe down the chair, any high-contact surfaces, and change out the protective plastic covering that we use to keep equipment like lights and tables sterile.
Everything we do to sterilize our dental office is done with you in mind. We want to make sure you feel safe — and stay protected — when you come in for your appointment.
How are Dental Tools and Equipment Cleaned?
After every appointment, we remove the instruments we used from the exam room and start the sanitization process. This includes the initial cleaning of our instruments prior to full sanitization. After removing any debris on the instruments using cleaning protocols, we seal them in special pouches that are designed to indicate when the instruments inside are sanitized. The pouches come with the added benefit of remaining sealed so that they are not exposed to the air once sanitization is complete. We don’t open them until you’re sitting in the dental chair, ready for your treatment.
Our dental autoclave is one of the real heavy hitters in our office when it comes to cleaning and sanitizing our tools and equipment. This machine is designed to leverage high-pressure and high-temperature steam to eliminate any existing pathogens on our instruments. We regularly check the autoclave with test strips to make sure it’s doing the job we need it to do.
For instruments that cannot withstand the heat of the autoclave, we utilize the properly recommended disinfectant chemicals to ensure they are safe for their next use.
With your safety and comfort in mind, we often implement single-use tools and instruments. That means that we will be utilizing brand new instruments during your appointment.
What Kind of Safety Guidelines are Followed?
Adhering to the most thorough and updated safety guidelines is the best way that we can keep our dental office safe for our patients. We are proud to utilize safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and the American Dental Association at our office.
We also make sure that we stay up to date on the latest news and developments in current events so we can gauge symptoms to look out for and weigh any extra protocols that we might need to put in place for your safety.
Fortunately, our team received the COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021. We will do all we possibly can to continue to keep our patients safe and healthy.
If you need to schedule an appointment with us, there’s no reason to delay — call us today!
