We are SO excited to see you and to continue your dental care!  Our dedicated administrative team has been working tirelessly to contact all of our patients with upcoming and/or canceled appointments.  If you have not yet heard from us, please be patient–you will shortly!

Due to our current national health climate, we have updated some of our daily office procedures and protocols, and I’d like to share some of these revisions with you.  You’ll still receive the same exemplary service from our dedicated team; however, to ensure the safety of all our patients and Schultz Family Dental team members, here are many of the changes we’ve implemented–ultimately designed to make your dental appointments as safe, pleasant, and comfortable as possible!

• We will be open for business on Monday, May 4th, with respect to the guidance set forth by Governor Kemp, the CDC, the American Dental Association, and the Georgia Dental Association; however, we will be seeing patients at a reduced capacity in the interest of continuing to respect social distancing guidelines and allowing our team the necessary time to facilitate our new safety protocols.  With that being said, we will have fewer than 10 people in our office at all times.
• Our waiting room is currently closed.  For this reason, we ask that you please come to your appointment alone.  If you are with a child, or require assistance, please let us know so that additional accommodations may be made.
• When you arrive for your appointment, please send a text message to: 470-285-9936 or call us at: 470-400-1553.  One of our friendly team members will meet you at our front door to take your temperature prior to entering our office.  As a courtesy to our team and any other patients in the office, if you have a temperature above 99 degrees, we will assist you in rescheduling your appointment.  All of our team members will also have their temperatures taken each morning, so that we can safely administer care.
• Upon having your temperature taken, we will escort you directly to your treatment room.  There, you’ll receive sanitizer for your hands and a Peroxyl rinse for your mouth (a hydrogen peroxide rinse specifically designed to reduce bacteria in the mouth by over 94%).  
• We’ll also ask you to fill out a brief COVID-19 questionnaire, designed by the CDC.
• You’ll then receive the same exemplary care, from one of our great hygienists and/or Dr. Schultz.  We will be eliminating the use of our piezon and air polisher units for your cleanings until further notice (the units that use water and air to clean your teeth), in the interest of generating as few aerosols as possible. 
• If you are seeing Dr. Schultz for an appointment, she will be using an Isolite system for your care, a special system designed to trap aerosols before they leave your mouth.  This again helps us to promote a maximally clean environment for your care!
• You may notice team members wearing a few extra layers (gowns, special face masks, face shields, head covers, etc.) all of which is designed to deliver dental care safely and effectively, with special consideration to COVID-19 infection control.
• Once your appointment is complete, you will be escorted to our check-out desk, where you can sanitize your hands again, and handle any financial matters with one of our lovely administrative team members (who will be wearing masks and gloves for everyone’s safety).

As recommendations for dental offices are changing daily, please stay tuned for any additional measures and/or protocols we’ll be implementing to maintain the safest environment possible.  Here are a few additional measures we’re taking:

• Dr. Schultz has hired a new cleaning company, Peach State Cleaning Solutions, to clean our office weekly with medical-grade products designed to kill this and any other viruses on all surfaces.  We will be taking this measure in addition to our daily virucidal cleaning protocols, as directed by OSHA and the CDC, between patients and at the end of the day.
• Thompson’s Pharmacy has supplied us with medical grade cleansers and hand sanitzers, for use by our team members and/or patients, that will be accessible throughout the office.
• We have also installed special Medify and Pure air filtration units, designed to clean the air in our operatories on regular cycles down to 0.1 microns (COVID microns are anywhere from 0.1 to 0.3 microns based on current data), in the event that any aerosols are being generated.
• If you have any new patient paperwork to fill out, we are also in the process of digitizing all of our forms.  As we transition, you’ll be handed an iPad with a stylus to complete any necessary “paperwork”–designed to eliminate germ spread if you need to fill out any paperwork in the office.  Otherwise, all of our patient forms can also be conveniently located on our website for you to complete in advance of your appointment.

And now for a few housekeeping and other notes…

• Please try to arrive a few minutes early for your appointment, to allow for our new safety protocols.
• We love our patients, and would normally greet you with a hug or a handshake; however, please don’t be offended–we are refraining from physical contact at this time.
• If you are over 65 years old, or are in a “high risk” category, we recommend that you consult your primary care physician prior to scheduling a dental appointment with us.
• Patients at particularly higher risk for virus transmission are those with the following conditions: any diseases of the lungs, moderate to severe asthma, serious heart conditions, an immunocompromised status (current cancer treatment, chronic smoking, any kind of bone marrow or organ transplantation, immune deficiencies, poorly controlled HIV/AIDS, or any other medications that may weaken the immune system), diabetes, kidney disease and/or dialysis, and liver disease.  
• If you fall into any of these categories, we suggest not appointing at this time for anything other than a dental emergency.
• Due to all of the additional safety, infection control, and PPE measures we’re now taking to ensure top-notch care in a world of COVID-19, there will be a new infection control fee of $20  for each appointment in our office.  This will likely not be a permanent addition, but will help our small business offset the (expensive, due to supply and demand) additional measures we’re taking to take care of you and our team safely!  At this time, dental insurance companies are not allowing for this additional cost, so please be aware that it will likely be an out-of-pocket expense for our patients.

We feel VERY confident that these additional measures will help give you a dental experience that is safe, pleasant, and comfortable!  As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us via phone, email, text message, or on our social media pages–and one of our team members will be in touch!

We look forward to serving you again!

Sincerely,

Dr. Schultz and your dental family at Schultz Family Dental

Anna K. Schultz, DMD
Schultz Family Dental
hello@schultzfamilydentist.com
470-400-1553