The Omicron Update
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure the safety of our patients and our team members, we at Markiewicz Dental of Mundelein have continuously reviewed the science and the data of the pandemic and implemented many COVID Protections and Protocols.
We have entered another wave which includes the emergence of the Omicron variant. Omicron, like each variant before, has demonstrated unique characteristics. The good news is that the mitigations necessary to keep everyone safe remain the same.
Vaccines are a very important and effective against serious illness from COVID, including Omicron, but a layered approach is required to keep everyone safe. While we have always followed stringent infection control practices, COVID-19 caused us to examine our ability to control the spread of an airborne virus.
In addition to our existing cleaning and sterilization protocols, we adopted proven methods to reduce the spread of airborne disease. Our approach is layered, sometimes referred to as the Swiss Cheese Model. While no single layer provides an impenetrable barrier, layering protections can get us close.
Vaccines….. Masks…Ventilation/Filtration….Stringent Infection Control
Layers include:
Source Control:
• Masking in public areas for our patients and continuous masking of our team members with N-95 or KN-95 level respirators. Masks not only protect our team members, but also our patients. Source Control is always the first layer of protection.
Protections through improvement of Air Quality
• Ventilation: An updated HVAC system allowed us to increase fresh air intake through our HVAC system.
• Negative Pressure Exhaust in our treatment rooms. The only area of the office where you are likely to be unmasked is in our treatment rooms. Air from a treatment room is exhausted through a negative pressure exhaust system directly outdoors. The air never recirculates back into the office.
• Filtration-Utilizing HEPA and UV-c filtration units, we can maintain a minimum of 35 air changes per hour in our treatment rooms and 15 changes per hour throughout the rest of the office. Hospital standard is 12 changes per hour.
We monitor the quality of the air in our office, and it is much cleaner than the air outdoors. Patients with allergies and asthma have commented about how well they breathe and feel while in our office.
We have done our best to make our office environment as safe as possible.
The readings below show:
• Filtration is effective: The amount of small and large particles measured are significantly less in the treatment room than outdoors
• Ventilation is adequate: No increase in CO2 demonstrates adequate fresh air is being mixed into the treatment room
Sample from outdoors
Sample from treatment room after one hour of patient treatment
We continue to do what is necessary to safeguard the health of our patients and team members. Please inform our office of any COVID-19 symptoms or exposure prior to your dental appointment even if fully vaccinated.
• As a courtesy to other patients please continue to wear a mask in the public areas of our office. (We will supply if needed).
• Please practice distancing while in our office. If you wish, you can continue to wait in your car. Just call us to let us know you are in the parking lot.
With your cooperation, we will continue to keep everyone safe.
At Markiewicz Dental of Mundelein, we believe everyone deserves a healthy and beautiful smile. That’s why we’re proud to provide comprehensive dental services in a friendly and professional environment to our neighbors in Mundelein, Hawthorn Woods, Libertyville, Vernon Hills, Grayslake, Wauconda, and all of Lake County.
If you have any questions related to dental health or the services we provide in our dental office, please feel free to give us a call at 847-566-2811, reach out to us at our contact page, or schedule an appointment online. We can’t wait to help you achieve a gorgeous smile. From everyone here at Markiewicz Dentistry, we wish all the best.
Our Team at Markiewicz Dental
