I hope this email finds you and your family well.  As our nation, state, and community continues to traverse the unknowns of COVID-19,  many lives and families have suffered an incredible amount of interruptions, stress,  and distress as we do our part in slowing down the spread of this invisible enemy. As the State of Texas begins to re-open, we undoubtedly will face a “new normal”.

Although it was difficult, we’re proud to be one of the few Dental offices that remained OPEN to treat Dental Emergencies as mandated by Governor Abbott, in order to increase hospital capacity for COVID-19 patients.  I and my staff knew the risks involved; however, we’ve taken an oath to do what’s good and right for our patients in need and never was there a time for such.  Within a month, we had treated more emergency patients than we had the whole year. Patients called from all over the city, some unfortunately with complete root fractures and swollen faces.  Many had to visit the Hospital Emergency Room before they were able to find a dental office that was open and would treat them. 

The safety of my staff and of my patients has always been of utmost importance before any regulations were passed by the State Board of Texas. We started from day one limiting patient exposure to one another and to enforce social distancing. Our protocol of patient Pre-screening, curbside Check-in, Peroxide mouth rinses, and Temperature checks, are now standards adopted as Emergency Protocol by the State Board.  In addition, all our treatment suites are now equipped with Air Sanitizers with both HEPA Ultra Filtration and UV Ionizers which eliminates 99.9% of Bacteria and Viruses.

In efforts to provide our community and patients, especially high-risk patients, with some basic supplies such as masks and hand sanitizer, we made Pine Cove Dental Care packs which we gave out for FREE. Several of our patients are high-risk and as such, we even delivered them to their houses when possible. We had such a great response and were happy to have been able to accommodate most of your requests!

We understand that Governor Abbott had issued and allowed certain businesses, including dental offices, to re-open starting May 1st for normal operations under Emergency Rules; however, our office has decided to wait until May 11th to see hygiene and non-emergency patients in order to make sure we have the proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and training protocol in place as required by the Emergency Ruling by the Texas Dental Board for the protection of both our staff and patients. As excited as we are about seeing you, safety has always and will always be first. Our schedule as of now is limited due to the number of procedures postponed, but rest assured we will do what we can to accommodate your needs. In the next few blog posts, I will highlight changes to our COVID-19 Enhanced Infection Control Policy, as well as ways we are investing in your safety while providing the best dental care possible to you, our patient family.