With Covid-19 on everyone's mind, many are hesitant about going to the dentist.  While social distancing and self-quarantine are necessary it is still necessary to care for your teeth.  Patients with existing health conditions are especially affected by the pathogens that always are in their mouths.  Ignoring dental care allows these pathogens to constantly enter your body and make your immune system even weaker.  Healthy teeth are part of good general physical health.

 The dental community is used to dealing with infection control.  Since the early 1980's the AIDS crisis appeared.  Since then we have been using Universal Precautions.  This means, we have always treated everyone as if they have a communicable disease.  We have always autoclaved (sterilized) all instruments and use disposables whenever possible.  Hospital grade disinfectants are used in the rooms after every appointment.  We have added 3 more infection control devices: A mist fogger, an electrostatic sprayer, and air purifiers .  The fogger and sprayer are used to disinfect the rooms with a non-toxic solution (Hypochlorus Acid) that is 80-100 times more effective than bleach.  We are using a similar solution in our drills and water scalers along with high volume suction to reduce aerosols.  These help to kill germs and viruses at the source.  The air purifiers remove air particles as small as 0.3 microns ( a strand of hair is about 100-150 microns in diameter).

With all of the existing infection control measures we have always taken, as well as the added precautions, I am assured that we are protecting you as well as protecting ourselves.  Your safety, as well as the safety of my staff, is of utmost importance.  All of the measures we, and the dental community, have taken are keeping everyone as safe as possible.

If you are still hesitant to have any treatment, I understand.  If you have any questions, please call and we can discuss how we are keeping everyone as safe as possible.

Thanks for all the support you have given us and be assured that we will continue to support you by keeping everyone safe and sound.

 Dr. Tara Pette