I am so excited to finally be able to announce our office will be open soon and we are so excited!
During the past few unprecedented weeks, I have worked countless hours to make sure that our practice will be ready to safely reopen. My team and I have participated in educational webinars, collaborated with colleagues and implemented structural changes to help keep everyone safe.
We’ve altered the clinical space by adding barriers between the dental chairs, placed air purifiers throughout the building, and installed UVC lights in the air ducts to sterilize the air as it circulates throughout the building.
We have expanded our personal protective equipment (PPE) inventory, and have participated in training by experts in Infection Control, CDC Guidelines, Universal Precautions and Social Distancing.
I have initiated these changes to help protect you, your family and my team. As you see and experience these new protocols and guidelines, please remember that I have your family’s safety and well-being first and foremost in mind.
Although dental offices in Maine have been allowed to open as of May 18th 2020, there are strict guidelines to safely see patients and we are still waiting for some necessary equipment needed for our reopening. I will make sure to commence seeing our patients soon as it is safe for you and my team. Your confidence and trust is greatly appreciated.
I also want to thank everyone for your patience with us during the past few months of our office closure. This has not been ideal, and I wish that things were different for you, us and the world as a whole. I promise that we will be working diligently over the next few weeks to be able to see you as soon and as safely as possible.
Our schedule has been re-designed to reduce the number of people in the office. You can do your part to help protect our MK Ortho community by texting or calling us prior to your scheduled visit if there is something loose or broken so we can adjust your visit accordingly.
During the past few weeks, I have investigated various options to allow me to monitor our patients in the short-term, with the mindset of integrating the technology in the long-term. My goal is to provide excellent, quality care while being sensitive to our patients’ needs and priorities.
This is why I have invested in virtual treatment monitoring which will, in the short-term, help limit your number of physical visits and in the long-term help us to better determine how to time your physical visits. The long-term implementation is still in the works, so please stay tuned for more details!
So, now the fun part 🙂 What you need to know for your upcoming visits:
What to do BEFORE you Arrive
- Please complete your pre-screening questionnaire 24 hours prior to your visit. The questionnaire will be available on our website’s homepage www.mkorthodontics.com under the link ‘Patient Forms.’ The form will be digitally sent to our office and is HIPAA compliant.
- We encourage you to take your child’s or your temperature prior to leaving your home to come to your visit. Please call us to reschedule if a fever (100.4 F or more ) is noted.
- Brush your teeth! Our toothbrushing station will be off-limits for infection-control purposes
- Bring a mask and protective eyewear (glasses, sunglasses) to your visit. A mask will be required to enter the building and eyewear will be required for treatment
- Avoid drinking hot beverages before you arrive. We will be checking temperature with a touchless thermometer and hot beverages may cause inaccurate readings which may necessitate rescheduling your visit.
Arriving For Your Visit
- When you arrive, please wait in your car and TEXT US 207.873.5333 to let us know you’ve arrived. Give us your name and the color/make of your car, and please stay in your car!
- You and your child will be pre-screened prior to entering our office by one of our team members. This will include a temperature reading by a touch-less thermometer and possibly oxygen saturation by a pulse oximeter. This is a device that gently clips around the finger to determine the amount of oxygen in your blood.
- Our team member will escort only the patient into our office. Patients will hand sanitize upon entry, and will remove their mask only once they are seated for treatment
- If you wish to have the visit streamed, please make sure that your child has a cellphone they knowhow to use, and please make sure that you connect the video call prior to your child entering the office with our team member.
During Your Visit
- “Sneeze Guards” have been installed at the reception desk and we no longer offer magazines, books, toys, etc. since these items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
- My team and I may be wearing face shields, scrubs, gowns and extra masks depending on what we will be doing at your visit. Please prepare younger patients for this change.
Finishing Your Visit
- Your orthodontic assistant will schedule your next visit, so please share your day/time preference with your child or our team member escorting your child into the office. If the scheduled visit does not work for you, please text or call us so we can accommodate you as best as possible
- Your orthodontic assistant will text you with an update on your child’s treatment, so please make sure that we have a working mobile number so we can reach you. I will also text or call if there is something that I would like to discuss regarding treatment. Of course if you are streaming the visit, Iwill be more than happy to answer your questions live!
Thank you again to everyone for being so kind, thoughtful and patient. My team and I have been so excited to get back to work and to see all your beautiful faces again because we miss you so much!
Please do not hesitate to reach out to our office via text 207.873.5333, email office@mkorthodontics.com or phone 207.873.5333 with any questions or concerns. In the meantime, I wish you and your families nothing but health, happiness, laughter and endless smiles!
