At Joseph P. Holmes DDS, your health and the health of our staff are of the utmost importance. Our community has been through a lot over the last two years, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have and will continue to change, one thing remains the same: OUR COMMITMENT TO YOUR SAFETY AND THE SAFETY OF YOUR FAMILY AS WELL AS OUR STAFF.
To ensure your health and the health of our staff, infection control has always been a top priority for our practice. Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association, the CDC and OSHA. Our office is closely following the activities of the agencies so that we are up to date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We are taking all these additional steps to protect our patients and our staff.  When you arrive for your appointment, we will take your temperature and ask several Covid screening questions to confirm there are no Covid indicators that would put you at risk for your dental appointment.

• Our waiting room is open with seating spaced out to honor physical distancing. 
  
• We recommend wearing your mask into the office but it is not required.
  
• After every patient, treatment rooms are sterilized, and all common space are wiped down with disinfectant.
• All clinical staff will wear appropriate PPE for every procedure.
  
• For the protection of all our patients and staff due the recent outbreak of coronavirus, we are requesting that if you have an illness or are exhibiting symptoms, we recommend you cancel and reschedule your dental appointment. Some illness and symptoms include:
  
• A cold or the flu-like symptom
• Fever
• Persistent cough
  
• Severe headaches, sore throat or body aches
  
• Chest pain, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
  
• Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
  
• Active tuberculosis (TB)
  
• Mumps, measles, chickenpox
• Other contagious disease
• Please notify our staff before your appointment if you have:
  
• Been in contact with anyone who has been confirmed to be COVID-19 positive
• Have tested positive for COVID-19
• If you are healthy there is no need to cancel your regularly scheduled dental appointment.
  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us immediately. The below links provide additional information regarding the coronavirus:
  
  * Center for Disease Control (CDC)<https://www.cdc.gov/>
  * World Health Organization (WHO)<https://www.who.int/news-room/newsletters>
  
  Our team will continue to monitor the situation and provide updated information when warranted. Thank you for being our patient before, during, and after these tough times. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends. We will not only get through this, but we will emerge stronger after it!