Covid 19 Protocols

To Our Valued Northview Dental Patients,

Based upon guidance from the Minnesota Board of Dentistry and Governor Walz, we are excited to be available to treat your dental needs as of Monday May 18.

We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. 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's 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. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies recommendations.

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

-- We ask that you wear a disposable or homemade mask while in our clinic and practice social distancing.

--Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You'll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.

--We will be taking your temperature when you arrive in the office. If your temperature is 100.4 or above we will ask you to reschedule your appointment and recommend that you get tested for COVID-19.

--We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.

--You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children's toys 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're offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.

--Based upon recommendations from the Minnesota Board of Dentistry and the CDC, we will still clean your teeth but will not be using the ultrasonic scaler or mechanical polisher. We will brush your teeth when the hand scaling is complete. Your teeth will be sparkling clean as they always have been.

--We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.

--We have modified the seating in the reception area to provide for distancing and will be disinfecting all chairs and surfaces between patients.

--We 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. To make an appointment, please call our office at 651-483-1858.

--Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.

Sincerely,

Drs. Norsted, Swenson, Lunstad and the entire Northview Dental Team.