As the days get longer and COVID-19 restrictions start to lift due to more people being vaccinated, we’re excited to touch base with you again after a long winter!
To motivate you to enjoy the season with your hands in the soil, we’re giving away an amazing gardening basket. It suffices that you like us on Facebook by March 31, and you’ll be in for the drawing. Better still, follow us!
COVID-19 Safety Protocols
We continue to follow the strict safety protocols we implemented in June 2020 to keep our patients and team members safe from COVID. Your safety and your health are always our first priority: thus, we will continue to go above and beyond with our precautions, until more people get vaccinated. Read our reviews on Google to learn what patients have been saying about our safety protocols. Or, if you have experienced them, please leave a review so others can feel safe also.
Skipping your Dental Visit
Please do not hesitate to go to the dentist! Skipping a 6-month cleaning (or two) can lead to cavities becoming larger, and gum disease (bleeding gums is a symptom) becoming more difficult to reverse. The sooner you receive treatment for either of these conditions, the simpler and less expensive the treatment will be!
Our dental hygienist Wendy created a short video explaining gingivitis, and how untreated it can cause gum (periodontal) disease that propagates to the entire body.
A periodic dental checkup is also important to monitor for oral cancer. A self-examination for oral cancer is explained in the short video “It’s Never Too Early,” highlighting April, Oral Cancer Month. The sooner oral cancer is diagnosed, the easier it is to control. Make sure your mouth and neck are OK, and schedule an appointment with us to have anything suspicious checked out.
Vaccinate or Not Vaccinate?
Most of our team members have taken two doses of either the Pfizer (95% efficacy after two doses) or the Moderna (94% after two doses) vaccine. Some of us, more susceptible to allergic reactions, are waiting for the Johnson and Johnson single dose vaccine (85% efficacy in preventing severe disease) to be made available in our community. To prevent new, more dangerous variants from appearing all over the world — mutating is what viruses do — we need to reduce the number of people who get contaminated. The only way to contain the pandemic is for a significantly large number of people to achieve immunity. The risky way to achieve immunity is to survive the disease; the easy way is to take the vaccine.
We don’t know to what extent a vaccinated person can transmit COVID-19 when they don’t have symptoms, which is why we need to continue with all our safety measures. To learn more about the efficacy of the three kinds of vaccines, we suggest this article. What we know for sure is that by taking a full course of any of these vaccines, you’re far less likely to end up in the hospital if infected.
To sign up for vaccinations in MD, you can visit https://covidvax.maryland.gov/ to view current eligibility requirements and complete the vaccine pre-registration form.
New in our Hygiene Rooms
If you haven’t come in for your cleaning yet, know that you’ll experience the same, thorough cleanings as you did before the pandemic. Thanks to high vacuum extraoral suction machines that we installed in all hygiene treatment rooms, our dexterous (and always charming!) dental hygienists are safely using the Cavitron (ultrasonic scaling system) to clean your teeth. They can also polish your teeth, so don’t hesitate to come in to get your spring cleaning! Your teeth and gums will be happy, and so will you!
New Website, New Newsletter
We’re migrating from one newsletter distribution system to a new one, so next week you should receive a second copy of this newsletter.
Our new website is also up, and we’re delighted that it’s cell phone friendly. We’re in the process of fixing minor errors, and we’d love it if you could please report any issues you experience with the website.
Patients with Special Needs
We’re delighted to be able to resume treating patients with special needs at our Special Needs Tuesday mornings starting April 27. We’re reopening our schedule as quickly as we can. The limit is the number of hands we have available, since at all times at least two (and often three) of our talented and hardworking dental assistants are fully dedicated to triage and disinfection of our premises.
Because of the larger number of people required to be in the treatment room, we’re requiring that these patients receive two doses of vaccine at least two weeks prior to their appointment. The same requirement applies to caregivers who remain in the treatment room with the patient.
To find out when our next dates are, please call the office or follow us on Facebook.
On Our Calendar: Open and Closed Dates
On Tuesday, March 30 – the office will be closed to patients in the afternoon to accomplish internal processes. We will be listening to voicemail during office hours so please leave a message if we don’t pick up the phone.
We continue to be open two Saturdays a month between 8 AM and 2 PM. Please call us for Saturday dates beyond June. These are our open dates:
- April 10 and 17
- May 8 and 22
- June 12 and 26
These are our Special Needs Tuesdays dates: April 27, May 18, June 8. If you’d like to be apprised of new dates as we make them available, please follow us on Facebook.
Happy Passover, Holi, and Easter!
Passover reminds us of freedom, Holi reminds us of love, and Easter reminds of rebirth. Let’s look forward with optimism to having more light in our days, more color in our lives, and increased opportunities to share experiences with those we love. Take good care of yourselves – even if you’ve been vaccinated, please continue to wear a mask, wash your hands, and practice social distancing. Following CDC guidelines is the best way to keep the pandemic in check!
We love hearing from you, so let us know what’s on your mind regarding this newsletter, or our practice generally! If you found this newsletter useful, please forward it to your friends and acquaintances.
All the best, be well, stay safe,
Dr. Harvey Levy & Associates