Keeping You and Our Team Safe
What do I need to know for my appointment?
First, in advance of your appointment, we will need you to review the mandatory questions here, and call us if you answer ‘Yes’ to any of them. The screening questions will be asked again upon arrival.
Please also notify us if you are required to quarantine after international travel, so we may reschedule your appointment.
Patient Guidelines and Protocol:
Please follow these guidelines during your arrival and visit. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!
- Patients and practitioners will wear masks during the appointment. Please arrive with a mask if you have one. Please also bring a pen for any paperwork you may need to complete.
- Please arrive no more than 5 minutes before your appointment.
- Please come to your appointment alone. If someone has accompanied you, they will need to wait outside of the clinic, except in exceptional circumstances.
- Please use the washroom in the hallway before your appointment and wash your hands thoroughly. Our clinic washroom is unfortunately no longer available for patient use.
- Limit the number of items brought into the clinic.
- Make liberal use of the sanitizing stations and be mindful of not touching surfaces or your face during your appointment.
- If you need to cough or sneeze at any point, please advise the practitioner as soon as possible and direct it into a tissue or your sleeve at the elbow. You will then be required to sanitize again.
- Please respect social distancing as much as possible while in our clinic.
What we’ve been doing
Dentists are, and must be, experts at infection control and have COVID-19 policies and procedures in place to keep everyone safe. The routine precautions we follow were designed to prevent the transmission of potential pathogens, and have been shown to be effective over many decades.
Our team continues to monitor, meet and exceed the recommendations provided by public health officials and infection prevention and control experts to ensure the safety of our staff and patients. This includes: the BC Provincial Health Officer and the Minister of Health, the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), Worksafe BC, the College of Dental Surgeons of BC (CDSBC), and the BC Dental Association (BCDA).
Some of these additional guidelines and protocols include:
- Mandatory screening questions reviewed by patients prior to their appointment, and again upon arrival
- Team training on increased infection control and patient management procedures
- Enhanced screening and physical distancing protocols
- Installation of a surgically clean air purification system that filters out viral and bacterial particles and re-energizes the air with negative ions (replacing the air throughout the office in minutes)
- Clinical procedures that greatly reduce aerosol production
- Fewer patients and extended appointment times to allow for increased safety measures
- Enhanced personal protective equipment
- Increased professional and ongoing disinfection of clinical areas and common areas
- Our Safety Plan and Exposure Control Plan are available for review in our office
Our dedicated team is excited to see you in the clinic. Remember that your dental care is part of your total overall health and maintaining a strong immune system.
Please check back for updates! And check out our new Facebook and Instagram pages!
– Dr. Franco Girard and the Oaklands Dental Team
*** Links for further COVID-19 Related Updates and Resources ***