Coronavirus Information

To Our Valued Patients:

We hope this letter finds you and your loved ones in good health.

Our community has been through much over the past few months and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety. As some of you are aware, our offices have remained open throughout this entire ordeal, though with limited hours and only to treat those with very urgent needs. We personally thank each of you for your confidence in us to keep you safe during this pandemic.

A primary goals of the COVID-19 restrictions placed on dental offices were to curb exposure to doctors, patients and staff by cutting out elective procedures, as well as to preserve the initial limited supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), i.e. N95 Masks, sterile gowns, etc. Now that we have been able to procure a sufficient amount of PPE and have had enough time to implement safety protocols that go above and beyond procedures required by the state, we are pleased to announce that we will increase our capacity to handle “essential procedures” and we will be extending office hours starting Monday, May 18th.

As you may have noticed on a prior visit, “infection control” has always been a top priority for our practice. This commitment helps to ensure that when you receive care in any of our offices, in addition to being of the highest quality, you are also kept safe from possible cross contamination. Many of the additional infection control procedures (both required and not required by law) we have implemented in our practice are recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We constantly monitor these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new guidance that may be issued to ensure maximum patient safety.

Here are some of the changes you’ll experience:

• Our office will communicate with you prior to your appointment to ask a few screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you arrive in the office.
• A temperature /fever screening will be performed upon your arrival.
• You will be asked to complete any necessary paperwork online before you arrive.
• We require the use of hand sanitizer when you enter the office. You will also find receptors in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
• You will see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect. Safe distancing of seats has been arranged.
• You will be asked to call our office from outside the building (i.e. from your car) once you arrive at our facility. To limit the number of patients present in the reception area, you may be asked to wait for our call back before coming in.
• We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the offices at any one time.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we’ve taken to keep you safe in our practice.

Thank you for understanding during this time. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.

Sincerely,

Bergen Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

As we continuously monitor the COVID-19 outbreak in New Jersey and the Tri-State area, and based on the recommendations from the surgeon general, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) we’ve made the difficult decision starting today to close to any elective and non-emergent cases at Bergen Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (BOMS).

As is always the case, BOMS sees itself as a leader in the medical/dental community and believes its role and responsibility at this time is to prioritize the health and well-being of our patients, doctors and staff, as well as the larger community. This is not a decision that we have taken lightly, and it is being done out of an abundance of caution during these turbulent times. As health care professionals, we see it as our duty to take steps in helping to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and to do so, we see it as necessary to follow sound scientific, public health advice, help limit infections and slow the spread of the virus.

There have been no staff members or doctors that have displayed any symptoms for COVID-19, nor any member of the families of staff members or doctors. In addition, no patients seen in our offices has reported as being sick.

As always, if you are experiencing something that needs immediate attention, please call our office and we will do our best to accommodate accordingly.

Our No. 1 priority is our patients’ health and well-being, and this decision to close indefinitely is solely based on their best interests. If you have any questions please feel free to contact our office.