Message from the President - COVID-19 UPDATE

Message from the President

May 14, 2020

Greetings!

Thank you for your support of the letter to reopen our practices in San Francisco.

We received 259 responses in 6 hours! The letter has been sent to the appropriate

leaders in city government.

San Francisco has opened phase 2, but dentistry has not yet been allowed to reopen for routine care. The department of public health has categorized us in the 3rd phase of reopening because of our proximity to our patients. We have made them aware that:

Dentists are health care professionals who are highly trained and educated in infection control and have these as ongoing parts of their daily practices.
The more that dental treatment is delayed the more that public health is at risk.

The urgency for reopening dental practices is clearly different than a nail salon.

ADA, CDA and SFDS are working non-stop to get us through this. We continue to provide links to ADA and CDA resources, as well as links to County, State and National resources. Please access these resources often as they are continuously being updated and have much of the information you need and seek.

I share your concerns and have the same frustrations: lack of access to PPE, questions about air quality, questions about how we will practice in the future. I can assure you that you are not the only one feeling this way. I can assure you that all these things are being studied and explored.

The need for dental care continues to grow every day we remain closed. Stay informed, prepare for reopening soon. We will strive to provide the information you will need to reopen safely.

I again thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Carlos Nogueiro, DDS

President

San Francisco DTI – Dental Access Collaborative Enrollment Open

Learn how to deliver patient-centered care using Teledentistry . Join a virtual learning community that will test and implement Teledentistry for children age 0-5 enrolled in Medi-Cal Dental. Not currently seeing children 0-5, yet want to? Want to learn how you might expand Teledentistry throughout your practice. Join the collaborative.

What you can expect:

Create and be able to measure results for your patients and your practice
Apply quality improvement principles to continuously improve dental services
Be part of a learning community that will help re-build and re-design the dental delivery system
CDE Credits
Each practice will receive $1,000 for up to 6 months (maximum $6,000) to offset the cost of your Improvement Team's participation. Payment is contingent on teams attending learning community calls, coaching calls and submitting monthly data.

Check out this flyer for more information.

Applications are open until Friday, May 29, 2020

Apply for DTI Collaborative

CDA

N95 mask information has been posted on cda.org today and includes:

Recording of the Practice CFO Webinar entitled, “Reopening Right”

Many important subjects were addressed related to resuming full operations: clinical, operational, and financial.

Expert panelists:

Continue to be a leader! Unfold a clear and confident plan to your team. "The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails and navigates forward.”