Framework for Non-Urgent Procedures During COVID-19 Outbreak

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Framework for Restarting Non-Emergent and Elective Procedures in Medical and Dental Offices

(Updated 04/24/2020)

Released on April 23rd, 2020, Governor Kate Brown issued an announcement that non-urgent dental procedures can resume on May 1st, 2020. As a small office, we have always prided ourselves on our outstanding hygiene and safety procedures. Here is what we are doing at Neighborhood Dentist to fulfill all state recommendations to assure safe and healthful visits to both patients and staff.

1. Prior to resuming non-emergency and elective procedures in medical or dental offices, the following criteria must be met:

a. The office must have adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supplies on hand.

Neighborhood Dentist will be supplementing our standard equipment with the following:

• Caps, surgical gowns, and foot coverings that will be changed between each patient
• N95 masks and face-shields for the doctor, assistants, and hygienists
• Plentiful supply of disposable gloves and even more generous use of disinfectants between visits

b. Medical or dental office is following strict infection control policies as recommended by CDC.

The doctor and staff follow the news every day for developments, new recommendations, and policy changes, ensuring we are always operating with the latest best practices and upmost safety beyond our standard, exceptional operations.

2. Once non-emergency and elective procedures resume, start slowly and reassess every two weeks.

a. Decrease caseload volume to maximize social distancing.

As a small dentist office, we have always operated in a way that assures each patient the best personal care possible. Beyond our base operations, we have also implemented a new office layout to ensure you can maintain a proper social distance at any given moment between staff and other patients. 

b. In order to maintain or expand this volume, office must continue to

meet all items in 1 (a-b).

c. Medical or dental office must maintain a plan to reduce or stop non-emergency and elective procedures should a surge/resurgence of COVID-19 cases occur in their region.

With this in place, we still plan on slowly inviting patients back to the office to assure our procedures are effective and make any further changes as deemed necessary. Neighborhood Dentist will continue to monitor the situation and be ready to scale back or halt operations as the situation deems necessary.

d. Prioritize procedures based on whether their continued delay will have an adverse health outcome.

We have always striven to be the office you can trust to provide the best care possible by prioritizing patient health and needs for treatment decisions. We will continue to be in communication with each patient to make the best treatment decisions and schedule to maintain each person's dental health in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

e. Strongly consider the balance of risks vs. benefits for patients in higher-risk groups such as those over age 60 and those with compromised immune systems or lung and heart function.

We will be in communication with all patients within a high-risk group to consider the timeline for treatment and ability to safely travel to the office. Once in office, we will take special care to go above and beyond our new safety procedures to protect our most vulnerable patients who still need to access dental care.

f. Medical and dental offices should utilize enhanced risk screening of patients prior to delivering care.

Though we will treat each patient as though they may be an asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19, we will postpone procedures for anyone demonstrating COVID-19 symptoms or who has been recently exposed, via test confirmation or self-diagnosis, the virus. Furthermore, we will be taking the temperature of every patient coming into the office. Please contact us at any time before your appointment if you suspect you have or may have been exposed to COVID-19.