Coronavirus has affected what seems like every person and every aspect on our day-to-day life and routines. We wanted to let our current and future patients know what changes we have made. Our priority has always been our patients, and their health and well being at the top of that priority. We can’t begin to tell you how excited we are to see our patients again! We know there are a lot of questions and hopefully this will help answer them.

Fortunately orthodontics is one of the safest specialties in terms of any type of dentistry, but we are going above and beyond in are already stringent infection control systems.

For Patients and Families

Scheduling

We ask for continued patience as we work to get everyone rescheduled safely as humanly possible. Here’s our plan on rescheduling:

– We have been working hard these past weeks to transform our office into a social-distancing germaphobe’s dream!

– To keep everyone safe and as appropriately distanced as possible right now, we will be seeing a reduced number of patients in our office at any given time.

– We will be seeing patients more days of the week to accommodate for all visits.

– You do not need to call us to schedule your appointment. You will get notification via email and /or text of your rescheduled appointment date and time. For those with existing appointments already on the schedule in the coming 1-2 months, your appointment day or time may have been altered, so make sure to pay attention to those email and text notifications from our office. In fact, we will likely be increasing our appointment notifications over the next 6 weeks and you may get annoyed by it—sorry, but we feel it’s necessary with all the changes! Please also click that “confirm box” on the notification so we know you received it 🙂

– If the time or day of your appointment truly doesn’t work for you, call or text us back, and we will find one that does. But please be flexible and accommodating. This is a monumental task.

– It is critical that you do not miss, arrive late to your visit, or cancel your appointment with less than 48 hours notice (unless of course of illness). If this happens, it will be weeks before we will be able to get you rescheduled.

New Office Protocols

Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We have always followed recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regarding infection control. We want to tell you about some of the new procedures in our practice to keep our patients and staff extra safe during this time.

• Our office will communicate with you within 24 hours prior to your appointment to ask some health screening questions. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO RESPOND TO THAT TEXT in a timely manner as it’s absolutely necessary for us to be able to see you or your child. You may be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.

• To reduce the number of visitors in the office, only the patient can be present for his or her treatment visit (unless it is for a child or adolescent consultation or growth observation visit.)

• If you do have a new patient consultation or growth check, only a parent can accompany the child to the visit. If that is absolutely not possible, please call us ahead of time so that we can make other arrangements.

• For all other regularly scheduled appointments, you may drop your child off at the door for their visit, but we will need you to wait in your car during the appointment. We are happy to text you when their appointment is complete and they are on their way out.

• Per Illinois mandate, every patient and parent that enters the building will be required to wear a mask. All of our staff members, clinical and admin will be in masks or behind clear barriers.

• You will often see clinical staff members with face shields over their varied mask levels.

• Heightened levels of disinfection will be used throughout the office including HEPA Filtration Units in all patient areas. And Minimum Aerosol Production. All our units have been re-engineered and our evacuation systems are top notch.

• Each patient will be asked to use hand sanitizer or wash your hands when you come into the office.

• Each patient’s temperature will be taken with a touchless thermometer before you enter the clinical area.

• Our reception area will have less available seating.

• Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that there are fewer options for scheduling your appointment.

• At the end of each visit, we will make yours or your child’s next appointment and give them a report card of his or her progress for your review, along with their appointment card. If you have any questions, you can always feel free to contact us via phone or text!

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we taken to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice.

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends!

We are currently accepting new patients and all of the same safety precautions have been taken for our new patient consultations as well.

Sincerely,

Dr. Carrie, Dr. Ami and the Team at CHT Orthodontics Team

NOTE: Fortunately orthodontics is one of the safest specialties in terms of any type of dentistry, but we are going above and beyond in are already stringent infection control systems.