covid-19

To all our patients here at Refine Orthodontics:

We hope this letter finds you and your family safe and healthy. Our global and local communities have been through a life-changing period. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your health and safety.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice, as you have experienced during all your previous visits to our office. This commitment to ensuring a safe, yet comfortable environment has been paramount to top quality orthodontic care. In light of current events, we want to tell you about the infection control procedures we currently and will continue to follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our office follows infection control protocols on the recommendations made by the College of Dental Surgeons of BC and WorkSafe BC. We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are current to any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures adhere to the regulations outlined, as dynamics change quickly.

You will see some changes when it is time for your next appointment:

APPOINTMENTS:

• Please reschedule your appointment if you are experiencing any flu-like symptoms and/or have possibly been in contact with someone with COVID-19.
• We ask that you brush and floss prior to your appointment, as this will not be allowed in office due to infection control.
• Please show up 5 min prior to your appointment time.
• We ask that you remain in your car and call us to let us know you have arrived.
• We will be reviewing a Wellness Questionnaire for all our patients.
• We will call you to let you know when we are ready for you. If possible, please arrive and leave with a mask on.
• Upon arrival we will take your temperature (please do not eat or drink anything hot/cold 30 minutes prior to arriving).
• You will then be asked to rinse with a 1-3% hydrogen peroxide-based antimicrobial rinse and to wash/disinfect your hands.
• Our waiting room will no longer offer magazines or children’s toys and since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
• Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. We ask that our patients be flexible with their availabilities when scheduling.
• In order to respect social distancing, will be restricting the number of people coming to an appointment to only the patient. Any discussions required on the part of the parent or doctor will be done over the phone either chair side or at the end of the day.
• One (1) parent/guardian will be permitted for young patients or special-needs patients. They will be required to go through the same health screening prior to the appointment.

SOCIAL:

• We LOVE our patients and catching up with them! Please understand that conversations may be significantly reduced to allow for social distancing, running on time and disinfection of treatment chairs and instruments.
• We will not be providing our coffee/tea station or any snacks during this re-entry period
• You will notice our furniture has been rearranged along with partitions at the reception and clinical areas

TEAM:

• All staff members will be screened upon arrival at work everyday. This includes the same Wellness Questionnaire along with recording of temperature that we perform on every patient.
• Staff member will be asked to go home if they are symptomatic and/or their temperature is elevated

We remain thankful for every one of our patients and wanted you to know that this is why we take your safety very seriously here at Refine Orthodontics. We look forward to seeing you all again and are happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the steps we take to keep you safe in our practice. As we prepare to reopen over the next couple of weeks, a team member will be reaching out to you to reschedule your appointment. We have prioritized our rescheduling protocol based on urgency. Please wait for our office to call you to reschedule. We ask, in this interim, for your patience and your understanding as our team works hard in getting everyone's treatment progress back on track.

Thank you for your continued confidence in us and look forward to welcoming back our Refine family!

Sincerely,
Dr. Julia Ng, Dr. Irene Cho & the Team at Refine Orthodontics

URGENT: We are closed until further notice.

Upon the recommendations of the CDSBC (College of Dental Surgeons of BC) and B.C. Health Authorities, we have made the decision to close our clinic until further instruction is given.

We remain accessible for orthodontic emergencies through:

• phone @ 604-746-2888
• email @ office@refineorthodontics.ca
• Social Media

Tune in to our social media platforms for further instructions (including management of orthodontic emergencies) as well as future updates.

Please help to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by staying home, keeping a social distance from one another and washing your hands often. Be Safe and Be Healthy!