We sincerely hope that you, your family, and close ones are in good health and keeping safe. We are writing to keep you updated on the situation regarding the Coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak and the closure of our office at Seattle Specialty Dentistry.
Governor Jay Inslee signed an executive order prohibiting “non-urgent procedures that would require medical and dental professionals to wear personal protective equipment” until 19 May 2020. This prohibition excludes emergencies and urgent care. With this prohibition, we are trying to navigate the challenges of COVID-19 in a way that can accommodate our emergency patients, keep our team safe and do our part to minimize transmission.
Our office is currently following the recommended CDC and Department of Health guidelines for treatment of patients in our office. We will only treat emergency patients that have an active infection resulting in true dental pain, are swollen, are immuno-compromised and those with high risk for presenting to the emergency room, while extending office closure to other treatment and care until 19 May 2020. Our top priority is to keep our patients comfortable until they can receive treatment.
If you have appointments during this period, you should be receiving a text or call from our staff to have them rescheduled in the next few weeks. We will be accessible for dental emergencies via phone call (206.682.3383 and press 1), text and email, and our staff will decide to schedule you to either an online appointment or an in person consult with one of our doctors. In the age of technology that enables prevalent “Working from Home” practice, we are hoping that we can be creative with how we diagnose your symptoms remotely in order to keep you and our staff safe and continue to “flatten the curve”.
This is an unprecedented time – the request for closure of any small business for an extended period of time makes for uncertainty of survival. We can get through this together! We are doing everything we can to keep our patients, team and community healthy and safe. We are doing our best to retain all of our staff by providing continuation of medical insurance to the majority of our team that is currently experiencing temporary layoff while waiting for their return to work date. We are reliant on and appreciative of your support to keep your account current during this critical time. Payment options include: check via mail to 509 Olive Way, Suite 1438 Seattle, WA 98101 or an online payment can be made here. Over the phone payments are not available at this time due to office closure.
Feel free to call us at 206.682.3383 for any updates and check our Facebook page. Again, we appreciate your loyalty and continued support during this difficult time.
Pavinee Chotiwannaporn, DDS, MSc
Luis Alvarado, DDS, MSD
