Important Information Regarding COVID-19

Notice to our patients

 

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, and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it is both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

 

Our office follows infection control 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). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up to date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued.

 

You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

    • Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You will be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
    • We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office in the reception area and other places in the office for your use as needed.
    • You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, and coffee and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
    • Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you are offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
    • We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
    • Traditionally our patients went through separate consultation, surgery, and post-operative visits.
    • We will be replacing the post-operative visits with phone or video conferencing.
    • We will be offering the option of a traditional in person consultation, telehealth consultation and /or phone consultation. If you choose a telehealth or phone consultation, you will need to schedule a 5-minute x-ray appointment prior to your telehealth or phone consultation.
    • Once you contact our office requesting treatment, we will send you an email appointment reminder and a link to register online. Please take the time to fill out all requested information in detail, including health history and insurance information if any. Please attach any referral forms or x rays if available. This online registration process is required before you come in. We will not offer a paper registration option.
    • For all in office appointments we will ask family members to wait outside or in their car unless patient is a minor. A temperature will be taken on all our patients upon entering the office.
    • For telehealth or phone consultations: A staff member will email you a link to join meeting and our surgical assistant will discuss your health history, concerns and treatment plan in detail. Your surgery consent form and financial agreement will be presented digitally and will be emailed to you for a digital signature. We ask that you email forms back to the office once completed.
    • Our receptionists will contact you to schedule your surgery appointment:
    • On your surgery appointment, we ask all family members to wait in their car unless patient is a minor. Upon check-in we will gather the rides name and phone number we will contact them as soon as your procedure is over. Your family member should remain in near proximity so they can pick you up as soon as you are done.
    • You will receive a post-operative phone call 7 days after your surgical procedure or an appointment may be scheduled if necessary.
    • We ask that you report any signs or symptoms of Covid-19 within the next 14 days.

 

We at Santa Cruz Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors, and friends.

 

Respectfully,

Dr. Brian C. Cheng, DDS, MD

Dr. Touraj Khalilzadeh, DMD, MD

Please view and share our latest COVID-19 Symptom Comparison Chart with your friends and family.

For further information, including measures to keep yourself healthy, visit the following links: