Letter From The Doctor Regarding COVID-19

Second Letter to all Patients: What we are doing to protect you.

Dear patients,

This is a second letter that I am personally writing to you all during this unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. In addition to providing some new updates of the situation, I would like to inform you of extra infection control measures and precautions that we, as your trusted dental providers, are taking to protect you, while providing necessary emergency treatments now and also in the post-COVID era.

As per my first email, you should all know that my team and I have been and will continue to be on standby to take care of emergency dental treatments during this crisis. First and foremost, I would like to mention that our commitment to see dental emergency patients definitely helps our society’s effort to contain the coronavirus. Currently, many dental offices are reluctant to see patient in-person, even though some are urgent dental emergencies. When someone has an urgent dental emergency and cannot contact nor see their dentist, the only other viable option is to rush to the hospital. We all know what the current situation is in hospitals now. Not only will it add more chaos but it certainly won’t help slowing down this deadly virus.

I would like to inform you of additional infection control measures and precautions that we are currently practicing in order to better protect patients and my team members, while delivering necessary emergency treatments. Some of these are as follows.

• Installment of additional infrastructures in the office
• Air Purifiers with HEPA filters are running 24/7 to improve the air quality and the aerosol decontamination.
• Physical barriers of “Sneeze Guard” at the front desk
• Usage of additional protective PPEs (Personal Protective Equipments) for team members during emergency treatments.
• Limited amounts of surgical masks are given away at no cost to needy patients for their personal use especially to elderly patients.
• New Protocols during the crisis
• Extensive phone and in-office screenings are being performed to triage the urgency of the dental emergencies and to rule out no one with active COVID-19 disease comes to our office physically.
• Only one patient is allowed in the office with a reduced number of team members, and strict social distancing is being practiced.
• Everyone (including all patients and employees) are required to brush their teeth, gargle with mouthwash, wash their hands with soap, and have temperature measured as soon as they enter the office physically.

As you might have heard, some States are starting to open up and other non-COVID medical procedures are starting to be allowed in California. However, this hasn’t happened to dentistry yet. COVID-19 is evolving quickly and we will keep you informed. I want to personally assure you that my office currently is and will continue to be one of the most safe places to receive dental treatment. My team and I also will continue our efforts to contain this deadly virus. You may call the office at (408) 226-5560 for any questions or whenever you feel anxious and need someone to talk. We are in this together.

Best Regards,

Dennis Baik DDS