COVID-19 SAFETY UPDATE

UPDATE 3/23/2021 – Phase 3 We are updating our procedures to reflect the easing of some restrictions and look forward to being able to improve our level of service for you.

IF YOUR APPOINTMENT WAS CANCELLED:

Appointments are still restricted to allow for social distancing. This means there are still fewer scheduling options and more spacing. We are still working very hard to reschedule patients that were cancelled due to the COVID shutdown and reduced capacity rules. It is very frustrating for us not to be able to reschedule your cancelled appointments sooner. We greatly appreciate your patience while we work through this process.

IF YOU HAVE AN UPCOMING APPOINTMENT AND ARE READY TO ROCK:

Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. To minimize contact with paper, pens, etc. we have put everything online. CLICK HERE TO UPDATE YOUR MEDICAL HISTORY

• Our reception area is reopening this week in a limited fashion to patients only.
• Only patients receiving treatment may enter the office and clinical area. Please do not bring guests or other family members with you so that we can maintain social distance. If you have young children, there are still many restrictions on who can come back to a clinical area so please call to discuss any concerns before your appointment.
• When you arrive up front, we will confirm your screening answers and take your temperature with a no-touch thermometer.
• We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. Once you have sanitized or washed your hands and had a normal screening, you will be able to sit in the reception area. Please respect the 3 foot social distancing rules.
• Once seated, you may remove your mask in the operatory. Before your procedure, we will ask you to rinse with a peroxide mix for 60 seconds.
• If you are seeing a hygienist for a preventive visit, you may not get an exam. Doctors are required to “complete” procedures without changing PPE so depending on the schedule, we still may not be able to break. Don’t worry! We’ll catch up soon!

We value your trust and loyalty and we are so excited to see you all again! We wholeheartedly appreciate your continued support, your kind words and your patience. Thank you once again for being our patient. Sincerely, The Team at McKee Dental Associates UPDATE 12/11/2020 – Due to the recent alarming rise in COVID cases, we have decided to keep our reception area closed off for your and our safety.

CURBSIDE CHECKIN: When you arrive for your appointment, please park, and remain in your vehicle. Call or text our main number – 704.708.4402 – to let us know you are here for your appointment and one of our staff members will let you know when to come to the door.

COVID SCREENING: To minimize contact with paper, pens, etc. we will be sending you a COVID SCREENING link with your confirmation texts that you can fill out and submit from the convenience and safety of your phone. CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT A COVID-19 SAFETY SCREENING This screening must be done within a week of your appointment. CLICK HERE TO USE OUR ONLINE PORTAL You can update your health history, address, insurance information all online. If we do not have an email address on file, just let us know.

• When you arrive up front, we will confirm your screening answers and take your temperature with a no-touch thermometer.
• We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office.
• Once seated, you may remove your mask in the operatory. Before your pro/cedure, we will ask you to rinse with a peroxide mix for 60 seconds.
• If you are seeing a hygienist for a preventive visit, you may not get an exam. Doctors are required to “complete” procedures without changing PPE so depending on the schedule, we still may not be able to break. Don’t worry! We’ll catch up soon!

We value your trust and loyalty, and we are so excited to see you all again! We wholeheartedly appreciate your continued support, kind words and your patience. Thank you once again for being our patient. Sincerely, The whole team at McKee Dental Associates!

UPDATE 10/2/2020 – AAUGH!

So this happened… one of our employees was notified of a potential Covid exposure from outside the office. We have had the entire office deep cleaned and fogged. Still, out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our staff and patient family, we will be closing the office until everyone on our staff is tested and the CDC recommended time has elapsed. We appreciate everyone’s patience, and we will be back as soon as we can confirm that it is safe.

For those of you who have an appointment in the upcoming ten days, we surely know your frustration! We have managed many months now without a blip but 2020 has reared its ugly head yet again! We will be compiling a list and will be in touch soon. Because you are our dental family, if anyone is in pain or has an emergency in the meantime, please let us know and we will get you in touch with a fantastic office that can see you on our behalf. Once we get the all-clear, we will be gearing up for extra hours to get you all in. As always, we value your trust in us and we will work diligently to get you rescheduled as soon as possible.

UPDATE 9/15/2020 – Phase 2.5

North Carolina has been stuck at phase 2 for an extended period of time but has finally moved to 2.5 as of last week. We are updating our procedures to reflect the easing of some restrictions and look forward to being able to improve our level of service for you.

IF YOUR APPOINTMENT WAS CANCELLED:

Appointments are still restricted to allow for social distancing. This means there are still fewer scheduling options and more spacing. We are working very hard to reschedule the two thousand plus patients that were cancelled due to the COVID shutdown. It is very frustrating for us not to be able to reschedule your cancelled appointments sooner. We greatly appreciate your patience while we work through this process.

IF YOU HAVE AN UPCOMING APPOINTMENT AND ARE READY TO ROCK:

Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. To minimize contact with paper, pens, etc. we have put everything online. CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT A COVID-19 SAFETY SCREENING This screening must be done within a week of your appointment. CLICK HERE TO USE OUR ONLINE PORTAL You can update your health history, address, insurance information all online. If we do not have an email address on file, just let us know.

• Our reception area is reopening this week in a limited fashion to patients only.
• Only patients receiving treatment may enter the office and clinical area. Please do not bring guests or other family members with you so that we can maintain social distance. If you have young children, there are still many restrictions on who can come back to a clinical area so please call to discuss any concerns before your appointment.
• When you arrive up front, we will confirm your screening answers and take your temperature with a no-touch thermometer.
• We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. Once you have sanitized or washed your hands and had a normal screening, you will be able to sit in the reception area in seats marked with green “clean” cards.
• Once you are called, please flip the card to “not clean” so we can sanitize the seating area.
• Once seated, you may remove your mask in the operatory. Before your procedure, we will ask you to rinse with a peroxide mix for 60 seconds.
• If you are seeing a hygienist for a preventive visit, you may not get an exam. Doctors are required to “complete” procedures without changing PPE so depending on the schedule, we still may not be able to break. Don’t worry! We’ll catch up soon!

We value your trust and loyalty and we are so excited to see you all again! We wholeheartedly appreciate your continued support of our family run business, your kind words and your patience. Thank you once again for being our patient. Sincerely, Dr. Malz, Dr. Woodman and the whole team at McKee Dental Associates UPDATE 5/5/2020 – McKee Dental Associates will be reopening on a limited schedule on 5/13/2020 in accordance with state and national agencies.

Our phones will continue to be answered on a limited basis as we ramp up towards our opening day. The following is a copy of a message sent to our patients with active emails which outlines the procedures we will be following: The past few months have surely been overwhelming and uncertain.

To say that everything is going to be different when we resume our lives is an understatement for sure! While many things have changed, our commitment to your safety has not. Infection control has always been a top priority for our patient family. Our office follows the recommendations made by the ADA, the CDC and OSHA. We have taken steps to make sure that our infection control procedures are current with each agencies’ recommendations. We are scheduled to tentatively open May 13, 2020 with routine care coming back May 18, 2020.

IF YOUR APPOINTMENT WAS CANCELLED:

Our team has kept great records of all cancelled visits and will be working down the list to reschedule. Please be patient. Appointments must now be restricted to allow for social distancing. This means fewer scheduling options and more spacing. We will add capacity when we can. Since well over two thousand appointments were cancelled, you may decide to schedule your routine checkup at twelve months instead of six to stay on schedule and simply skip a visit. This is a great option and if you are taking good care of things at home, we encourage you to let us know so we can prioritize your neighbors who may not be as fortunate.

IF YOU HAVE AN UPCOMING APPOINTMENT BUT DO NOT WISH TO COME IN YET:

If you are over 60, have any underlying disease or you simply are not comfortable yet, please let us know to reschedule you farther out.

IF YOU HAVE AN UPCOMING APPOINTMENT AND ARE READY TO ROCK:

Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. To minimize contact with paper, pens, etc… we have put everything online. CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT A COVID-19 SAFETY SCREENING This screening must be done within a week of your appointment. CLICK HERE TO USE OUR ONLINE PORTAL You can update your health history, address, insurance information all online. If we do not have an email address on file, just let us know.

• We will be confirming your answers and taking your temperature with a no-touch thermometer when you arrive.
• Our reception area is closed until further notice. We are asking that patients wait in their cars and text or call us when they arrive. Only patients receiving treatment may enter the office and clinical area. We will text or call you back when we are ready so that someone can bring you or your family member straight back to your personal room. Think of it as “curbside delivery”, but for teeth.
• 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.
• Before your procedure, we will ask you to rinse with a peroxide mix for 60 seconds.
• If you are seeing a hygienist for a preventive visit, you may not get an exam. Doctors are required to “complete” procedures without changing PPE so depending on the schedule, we may not be able to break. Don’t worry! We’ll catch up soon!

We value your trust and loyalty and we are so excited to see you all again! We whole-heartedly appreciate your support of our family run business, your kind words and your patience. Thank you for being our patient. Sincerely, Dr. Malz, Dr. Woodman and the whole team at McKee Dental Associates

BEHIND THE SCENES:

For the science nerds, what exactly are we doing clinically to improve safety? First, we were already doing almost everything in the newly expanded PPE requirements so there are no huge changes there. We have added longer fluid resistant gowns, full face shields and some additional barrier protections. Our instrument processing procedures already exceed the current guidelines and they will continue to do so. We have added additional High Volume Suction and isolating mouthpieces to minimize splashing and droplets as mich as possible.

We have also added HEPA filtration in non-clinical areas. The most interesting addition is the use of a Hypochlorous Acid fogging system. HOCl has been used on cruise ships in the last couple of years to successfully combat Norovirus. It also has been used in public spaces and even operating rooms to safely disinfect intricate surfaces with no damage. Most recently, it was used in South Korea to successfully disinfect Covid testing sites.

It has been added to the EPA list of disinfectants to kill human Coronavirus with a contact time of only one minute! Best of all, it is non-toxic, non-irritating and safe to breathe and get on your skin. We will be fogging all clinical areas between use in addition to our usual surface disinfection and we are excited to have been able to obtain a system for our opening (it was harder to get than toilet paper!).

UPDATE 4/18/2020 – McKee Dental Associates remains closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic with the exception of emergency treatment of severe issues as outlined in recommendations by the ADA, NCDS, NCDHHS and the Governor’s office. Our phones are being answered on a limited basis, however, all upcoming regular appointments have been cancelled for now through April 29th due to the statewide stay-at-home orders.

We will check voicemails and return calls on a regular basis. We will update you when we get further information and we will start rescheduling cancelled appointments with extended hours as soon as we can. Most likely we will be looking at sometime in May. Again, be safe and stay well during this very difficult time. For friends and family who have lost someone, our deepest sympathies go out to you. For those who are sick, stay strong and we will be there for you when everything is back to normal. UPDATE 4/02/2020 –

This supercedes the information below. As of 4/3/2020 McKee Dental Associates remains closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic with the exception of emergency treatment of severe issues as outlined in recommendations by the ADA, NCDS, NCDHHS and the Governor’s office.

Our phones are being answered on a limited basis, however, all upcoming regular appointments have been cancelled for now through April 29th due to the statewide stay-at-home orders. We will check voicemails and return calls on a regular basis. We will update you when we get further information and we will start rescheduling cancelled appointments with extended hours as soon as we can.

Be safe and stay well during this very difficult time. For friends and family who have lost someone, our deepest sympathies go out to you. For those who are sick, stay strong and we will be there for you when everything is back to normal.

UPDATE 3/20/2020 – This supercedes the information below. As of 3/19/2020 McKee Dental Associates is closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic with the exception of emergency treatment of severe issues as outlined in recommendations by the ADA, NCDS, NCDHHS and the Governor’s office.

Our phones are being answered during normal business hours, however, all upcoming regular appointments have been cancelled for now through April 6th. We will update you when we get further information and we will start rescheduling cancelled appointments with extended hours as soon as we can. Be safe and stay well during this very difficult time.

UPDATE 3/15/2020 – By now, you have probably received a hundred emails regarding Covid-19 so we will try to keep this short. We will be modifying our operations to keep us all safe. We can deliver successful treatment without risking the spread of disease. The following are important changes if you have an upcoming appointment:

Please reschedule your appointment if:

• You exhibit a fever, cough, or any other flu-like symptoms
• You have traveled within the last 30 days to an outbreak area
• You have come in contact with anyone who is suspected of being exposed to COVID-19 Someone you know has had flu-like symptoms

We will be limiting the number of patients and accompanying parties for appointments.

• Our schedule has been adjusted to allow for fewer patients at any given time.
• Only one person should accompany each patient, if needed. We understand that school is out. If you are unable to make care arrangements for other family members, please reschedule your appointment to limit your family’s potential exposure.
• Only the patient being treated will be allowed in clinical areas.

All common areas and patient areas are being disinfected at an increased rate.

• There will be no eating or drinking in the reception areas.
• We will have materials to sanitize your hands upon your arrival.
• If you would prefer to wait in your car, please call or text us when you arrive and we will be happy to escort you directly to a treatment area when we are ready for you.

We will be taking your temperature with a no-contact thermometer and will be using an enhanced medical screening. If there is any doubt before starting an elective procedure, we may defer your procedures and reschedule your appointment for everyone’s safety. We will have patients rinse with a peroxide based mouthwash prior to their appointment We may limit procedures which cause aerosols at our discretion. Universal precautions will be strictly enforced to all those treating patients. While there is a lot of uncertainty at this point, we remain committed to providing the best practices and care for our patients. Thank you for your understanding and please stay safe!

Dr. Ryan Woodman

Dr. Victoria Malz

Dr. Jennifer McCabe And the whole team at Mckee Dental Associates