COVID-19 Update
Dentist Fairfax, VA
Dr. Mary-Stuart Gallian and her team care about your safety and work hard to prevent the spread of infection!
We have always followed the most stringent infection control and sanitization protocols set forth by OSHA and CDC. These guidelines were created to safeguard against the spread of severely contagious diseases such as tuberculosis or measles and are equally effective against influenza and coronavirus. We will continue to protect you and our team by monitoring and following new and updated procedures. Along these lines we have installed a powerful hospital grade 0.1 micron HEPA filter in the office, and each operatory has its own water-based air purifier to reduce air contaminants.
Dr. Gallian and her team are now screened and monitored daily and our office has always had a strict health policy.
For your protection and ours, we are temporarily adjusting our office procedures to reduce the number of people in the building at one time and to allow more time between appointments to sterilize the environment per new OSHA and CDC guidelines.
PERTINENT INFORMATION FOR YOUR NEXT APPOINTMENT:
(1) Masking for patients is now optional. We request that you honor the decisions of our patients and if they want to mask that is their choice. We also still offer to let you stay in your car and call you in when we are ready for you if you do not feel as comfortable being around unmasked patients. Our employees are still under strict masking requirements, and will be masked.
(2) We still take your temperature before seating you. If you have a temperature or are exhibiting any symptoms of a contagious illness, we will reschedule you for a later date. If you have any symptoms of an illness in the 24 hours prior to your appointment, we request that you contact us and we will get your rescheduled.
(3) There is still no checking in on a communal computer, all paperwork needed will be filled out on paper and scanned in to your digital chart.
(5) Due to the heavier personal protective equipment (PPE) that our team are all wearing for your safety, the temperature in the of office will be kept quite low. Please bring a light jacket or blanket so we don’t freeze you out. If you get here and are too chilly, we do provide blankets that are laundered between each patient use. Dr. Gallian and Her team would like to share their routine Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Sterilization procedures:
- Our office will be using N95 or Level 3 face masks, face shields or protective eyewear, gloves, protective gowns, hair covers. Each operatory will have protective plastic guards over equipment. Between each patient, disposable items are discarded, and reusable items are sanitized and disinfected to mitigate patient-to-patient transmission.
- As always, there will be frequent hand washing using soap and water or use of alcohol hand cleaning. Strict surface cleaning and disinfecting is conducted in each operatory between patients. All dental instruments are thoroughly cleaned and packed in individual sterile pouches before being heat sterilized in steam autoclave machines.
- The autoclave is tested weekly with a spore test, to ensure perfect performance for each sterilization cycle. We use only distilled water in our patient chairs, and
each chair has its own straw water purification system. - Common areas of the office are cleaned and disinfected regularly.
- Thank you for your patience and understanding in these unusual times.
May, 2022
