Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, and Lincolnshire IL
Going to the dentist when there is a surge of COVID cases in the United States may be nerve-wracking and make you feel insecure about potentially contracting the virus. Fortunately, the experienced dentists in Lake Forest at Lake Forest Smiles follow strict guidelines and recommendations from the American Dental Association (ADA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Adhering to these requirements helps our dental team ensure that our infection control procedures are in practice and aids in providing a safe environment for our patients. With dental practice infection control, you can safely go to the dentist during COVID by following the information below.
Scheduling an Appointment
To better protect our patients and staff, we have added safety precautions to our appointment procedures. When you call to schedule an appointment, we will ask you questions based on a COVID screening questionnaire. Upon your arrival at the appointment, you will need to answer the same questions again in case there have been any changes in your health. We ask that patients please take their temperature before coming to the dental office and report any indication of a fever. When you enter the office, we will confirm your temperature with a contactless thermometer. To complete the additional steps before your appointment, the professional Lincolnshire dentists near you request you arrive approximately 10 minutes before your appointment.
Additional Procedural Changes
Serving patients to the best of our ability is the goal, so some procedures for your dental visit are changing to accommodate the pandemic situation. These changes are necessary to protect the patient’s and staff’s health at your friendly Lake Bluff dentist’s office.
Therefore, we request your cooperation with the following items to ensure a safe experience at the dentist during COVID.
- Any patient in contact with or who is experiencing COVID symptoms within 14 days of their appointment must postpone their dental visit. If you are experiencing a dental emergency, please contact our office to make special arrangements for care.
- Patients over the age of 65 or those with preexisting health conditions such as serious heart conditions, chronic kidney or liver disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease or asthma, or who are immunocompromised should refrain from visiting the dental office currently. If you need to accompany another patient and you are in this health category, please contact our office to address the situation on a case-by-case basis.
- We request that patients come to the office unaccompanied by others. Children or special needs individuals may have a single family member accompany them if necessary.
- We are scheduling appointments to best suit physical distancing requirements between patients and provide adequate time to disinfect used areas before the next patient’s arrival.
- When arriving at the office, please call to inform us of your arrival. Then, when your room and our staff are ready to receive you, we will contact you.
- Every person who enters our dental office is required to wear a mask. You must wash and sanitize your hands immediately upon entering the building.
- Our waiting room luxury items such as magazines, drink stations, and children’s play areas are no longer available due to difficulties in sanitation practices.
- The Lake Forest family dentists care about your concern that the virus could be airborne. Therefore, we installed an air scrubber to improve the air quality for you and our team. An air scrubber kills airborne pathogens and contaminants when passing through a titanium dioxide-coated honeycomb filter fitted with a strong UV germicidal light.
General Dentists in Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, and Lincolnshire
Our dedicated dentists and staff members at Lake Forest Smiles exercise every precaution to keep our patients safe while visiting our dental office. By adhering to stringent cleaning and disinfecting protocols, you can safely see your board-certified dentists in Lincolnshire without worrying about the threat of contracting COVID. If you have questions about your safety while in our office or are ready to schedule an appointment, feel free to call Lake Forest Smiles at (847) 234-4800 or contact us online.