COVID-19 has been a very difficult time for all of us. Many of you have been forced to wait for dental care, and we deeply appreciate your understanding while we kept our office closed to help control the spread of the coronavirus.
We are happy to announce that we are planning to reopen our office for patient treatment on May 18, 2020. Our hours remain Monday - Friday, 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Dr. Ellis has made this decision after studying guidance from the American Dental Association, Missouri Dental Association, Centers for Disease Control, and other medical and dental authorities offering guidance. Your health and well being continue to be our highest priority, and we are only opening because we have carefully planned and revised our office procedures to greatly minimize the risk of infection for our patients and our team members.
If you have an appointment scheduled after May 18th, someone from our office will call to confirm your appointment. If your appointment was canceled due to the office closure, someone from Ellis Dental should have contacted you to reschedule that appointment. Given the high volume of cancellations over the past 8 weeks, it is extremely important to us to do everything possible to attend to our patient’s needs. If your canceled appointment has not yet been rescheduled, we will be reaching out in the coming weeks via phone and/or email.
With our re-opening, there will be some changes to our office and the patient experience that we would like to share. Ellis Dental has always been an extremely clean and sterile environment. We take painstaking efforts to ensure that each of our operatories, chairs, work surfaces, counters, and all touchpoints are extremely clean. In addition to these existing procedures, we have implemented new policies to address the recent virus outbreak. As mentioned, Dr. Ellis has listened to an array of experts to help inform her decision on the new policies and procedures to be implemented at Ellis Dental.
Prior to and upon your visit to our office, you will experience the following:
A confirmation call to review screening questions.
A request that you wear a mask when coming to our office.
A checkpoint upon entering where we will ask that you use hand sanitizer, wipe down any belongings you have with you with a sanitizing wipe and get a mask if you did not bring one with you (please bring your own mask as our supply is limited).
One of our front desk team members will take your temperature and review screening questions prior to the clinical team taking you back for your appointment.
Please do not bring guests or extra family members with you to your appointment. We are trying to limit the number of patients in our office at any given time.
We will ask that you continue to practice physical distancing measures in common areas of the office, including the front desk.
The front door and the door between the waiting area and operatories will be propped open all day.
There will be no physical contact with patients with the exception of treatment (this one saddens Dr. Ellis as she is going to miss shaking hands, fist-bumping, and hugging her patients she cares so much for).
We know that there will be changes and new procedures around every corner in our community. We are proceeding with an abundance of caution, but we want you to feel as confident as we do that any visit you make to our office will be a safe one.
We also realize that many of you have been impacted financially during this outbreak, and we are offering some solutions to keep dental care affordable for you and your family.
To discuss these payment options, schedule an appointment, or ask us any questions you may have about your next visit, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 314-965-1334 or patientcare@ellisdental.com.
Thank you so much for trusting the team at Ellis Dental with your oral healthcare. We look forward to seeing you soon!