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Health and Safety

You & Your Families Safety is our Top Concern!

At North Main Family Dental, we are committed to your health and safety at all times. That is why your dental health and safety are important to us. Now more than ever, patients have questions about their risk for infection when they visit a healthcare practitioner of any kind. Our goal is to exceed the Alberta Dental Association and Canadian Dental Association safety and sterilization guidelines with the use of hospital-grade sterilization equipment and by following strict sterilization practices. In light of the current COVID-19 situation, we understand that many of our patients have questions about our safety practices. Please know that we are taking all precautions to ensure the safety of our staff and patients, and we follow very strict sterilization and infection control procedures in our office.

Our COVID-19 Health and Safety Measures

  • Clean Clinic & Equipment
  • AHS Screening of all patients & staff before entering the clinic
  • Touchless temperature recording of all patients and staff
  • Constant hand sanitizing of all patients and staff, with hand sanitizer positioned throughout the clinic
    Enhanced and frequent disinfection of all contact surfaces
  • All patients, accompanying adults, and team members wear masks at all times when inside the practice. We are happy to provide you with one if you don’t have your own.
  • Enhanced Complete Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that follows recommended guidelines from Alberta Health Services and the Alberta Dental Association and College, including respirators, face-shields, long sleeve gowns and head covers for all clinical team members
  • Reduced waiting room chairs
  • Social distancing in clinic
  • Providing teledentistry services – if required for follow-up lab reports or communication that can be done online or through video education
  • Online paperwork that we require from all new patients that can be filled out beforehand (which are mobile and easy)

Our Dental Sterilization Practices

Autoclave [pressurized steam]: All dental instruments and hand pieces [drills] are sterilized in a high-pressure steam autoclave after each use. This process is the standard of care. Our computerized autoclave warns us in the event of an incomplete sterilization cycle, and we have protocols in place to correct such issues immediately. As an added precaution, we also use an external biological indicator test to ensure that our autoclave is functioning properly and producing sterile instruments.

Surface Decontamination: All surfaces, including countertops, dental chairs, stools, light handles, and control buttons, are disinfected with chemical solutions before and after every patient. These solutions are not only formulated to eliminate infectious bacteria and viruses that could otherwise proliferate on these surfaces, but the chemicals themselves pose no health threat to our patients.

Disposable Items: Many of the items we use today are discarded after a single-use. These items include saliva ejectors, high-speed suction tips, drinking cups, rubber cleaning cups, patient bibs, tray covers, sterilization bags, mixing pads, mixing tips, anesthetic carpules, and needle tips, among others. Gloves and masks are also discarded after each use.

Please be assured that our health and safety plan is thorough and put in place with your health and safety in mind. It will continue to evolve as we continue to learn how to best manage protocol, and this section will be updated regularly and accordingly.

Please feel free to contact us at any time if you have any questions regarding your health and safety or any of our health and safety procedures.