We are excited to have the opportunity to welcome you back!

Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and we are all looking forward to resuming our routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety. Our office has always utilized personal protective equipment (PPE) that has exceeded all the CDC guidelines. However, considering the COVID-19 Pandemic we have instituted additional guidelines and protocols to ensure your safety. You will see many changes as we have new ways of scheduling your appointments and managing your insurance and financial transactions.

First, you will be contacted 48-72 hours prior to your appointment via phone, text, or email and asked a set of health-related questions. It is required that we complete this screening questionnaire prior to your appointment – if we are unable to contact you to complete this step your appointment will be rescheduled. You will be asked these same questions when you arrive for your appointment.

Below is a list of some of the enhanced precautions we have taken to protect you in addition to extensive team training on infection control and patient management procedures.

• 1. Personalized arrival procedures guiding you from your car directly to treatment rooms to eliminate contacting surfaces, as well as payment arrangements in advance to avoid delay.
• 2. A) When you arrive at our office, please stay in your car and call us when you have arrived. We will repeat the screening health questions at this time.

B) You will receive a call/text when your room is ready. We require a mask to be worn by ALL persons upon entering the office.

• 3. All magazines and items that can harbor or transfer germs of any kind have been removed. Hand sanitizer will be provided.
• 4. Installation of sneeze guard/droplet barriers at the reception areas.
• 5. Require hand washing and hand sanitizing before all appointments by our team and by our patients.
• 6. Use of oral pre-rinse by all patients to reduce exposure to germs.
• 7. Record temperature of every patient upon entering the office.
• 8. Record temperature of every team member each day.
• 9. Enhanced treatment room disinfection procedures of all surfaces between each patient.
• 10. Ambient air management with HEPA air filtration continuously in treatment rooms.
• 11. Enhanced daily treatment room disinfection procedures with mist or fogging devices to access hard to reach places that can be easily missed.
• 12. New Personal protection equipment i.e.. face shields, gowns, and masks for our doctors and team to provide barriers against the smallest of germs
• 13. Introduce protocols to reduce airborne aerosols during all dental procedures.
• 14. Enhanced nightly disinfection procedures of equipment and office fixtures including but not limited to: computers, keyboards, telephones, tablets, chairs, doorknobs, and buttons that may be touched unconsciously.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we have taken in order to keep you safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at 805-772-8585.

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

Sincerely,

Dr. Ratchford and Team