Covid-19

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At Chico Dental Design Studio the Office of Dr. Michael Hiersche, it is our privilege to provide you, our friends and families, with excellent dental care to help you achieve optimum oral and general health. We are excited to announce that our practice has reopened our doors to serve you. Our team has missed you so much and we are beyond ready to get back to serving you!

We want to inform you that we have officially reopened our office as of June 1, 2020. This decision is based on current guidance from the CDC, California Dental Association, and California Department of Public Health stating that dental practices are allowed to reopen to resume clinically necessary dental care.

We are excited to have the opportunity to welcome you back! As always, our top priority is the health and well-being of our patients, families, staff and community. Our office has always utilized personal protective equipment (PPE) that has exceeded all the CDC guidelines, however, in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic we have instituted additional guidelines and protocols to ensure your safety.

You will see many changes, as we have new ways of scheduling your appointments and managing your insurance and financial transactions. First, you will be contacted 48-72 hours prior to your appointment via phone, text or email and asked a set of health-related questions. It is required that we complete this questionnaire prior to your appointment. We will have to reschedule your appointment if we are unable to complete this step. Below is a list of some of the enhanced precautions we have taken to protect you in addition to extensive team training on infection control and patient management procedures.

Appointments

• There will be a limited number of patients per day.
• Please wait for our office to call you to reschedule your appointments. We have a comprehensive and accurate list of every appointment canceled; however, we may not realize your urgency.
• If you are immunocompromised or do not feel comfortable coming to the office, please call us so we can make arrangements for you.
• If you are extremely eager or have been experiencing discomfort, please call our office so we may discuss your situation with Doctor Hiersche.

What We Are Doing to Keep You and Our Team Safe

2. When you arrive in our parking lot for your appointment, please call or text us upon your arrival. A team member will then direct you through our personalized arrival procedures to guide you from your car directly to treatment rooms to eliminate contacting surfaces.
3. Maintain distancing in the reception area for essential caregivers and parents of minors if they cannot wait in a vehicle or outside the office.
4. Removed magazines and items that can harbor or transfer germs of any kind. Hand sanitizers will be positioned throughout the office.
5. We require a mask to be worn by ALL patients upon entering and leaving the office.
6. Installed sneeze guards or droplet barriers at all reception areas.
7. Require hand washing and hand sanitizing before all appointments by our team and by our patients.
8. Introduce an oral pre rinse by all patients to reduce exposure to germs.
9. Record temperature and blood oxygen saturation of every patient upon entering the office.
10. Record the temperature and lung efficiency of every team member each day at beginning and end of work period.
11. Payment arrangements in advance to avoid delay and allow contactless exit from the appointment.
12. Enhanced operatory disinfection procedures of all surfaces between patients. 
13. Ambient air management with HEPA air filtration continuously in treatment rooms and common areas to remove germs from circulating air.
14. Enhanced HVAC disinfection with UV light or HEPA Filtration units.
15. Enhanced operatory disinfection procedures with mist or fogging devices to access hard to reach places that can be easily missed.
16. New personal protection equipment like visors, gowns, and masks for our doctors and team to provide barriers against the smallest of germs.
17. Introduce protocols to reduce or eliminate airborne aerosols during all dental procedures.
18. Enhanced nightly disinfection procedures of equipment and office fixtures like computers, keyboards, telephones, tablets, chairs, doorknobs, and buttons that may be touched unconsciously.
19. Disinfection of all outside mail and packages that enter the building.
20. Longer appointment times for you to prepare and complete all appointment tasks and duties in the safest and most comprehensive manner.
21. Providing teledentistry services for follow up lab reports or communication that can be done online or through video education.

In order to implement new protocols and help provide a safe environment you and our team, your insurance carrier may be billed a small additional fee of $10 to help offset the new fees associated with these required protocols. This fee will be required at time of service and reimbursed if covered by your insurance.

We are grateful for every one of our patients, and this time away has only served to make us even more thankful for each of you. You are the life-force of our practice, and this is why we are taking your safety VERY seriously. We ask for your patience and understanding. For some patients, your cosmetic treatment progress has been delayed. We wish that were not the case. Please forgive us as we are focusing on getting each of you back on track safely, while not exposing other patients, team members, and our community to unnecessary risk.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call our office.

We can’t wait to see you!

Dr. Hiersche and Team