Covid-19 updateCOVID-19 Updates

As you all know things are changing, not only daily, but hourly at this moment. I have been trying to absorb and organize as much information as possible to make an informed decision for the well-being of our patients, our team, all of our families, our community and ultimately for our nation. We know some things about this COVID-19 virus, but there are many more things we do not know. However, one thing is for sure – God is with us!! He has a plan for us. We are his children and he will not forsake us. I know that not knowing what comes next may give you fear or anxiety, but I am here to tell you that we are here for you – always – to make you smile, but most importantly, God is with us! In Isaiah 41:10 God tells us not to fear. He says “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” And most importantly, feel blessed that we live in a free country where we can come together and worship our Savior freely, without fear of persecution!!

And so knowing that God is with us and that he is guiding our decisions and that he is in control of who our leaders are-we need to listen to the best information that has been provided for us in this difficult situation by our local and government authorities. Accepting that social distancing is the best thing we can do as individuals to lessen the impact of this virus and ensure that most people stay healthy, then it is with heavy heart that I must close our office for the next couple of weeks. As of right now we are closed through April 27th and we will re-asses as necessary, based on the situation at the time.

However rest assured we are here for you and we are sticking to our mission of making people smile- our practice has been offering virtual appointments for several years, therefore we are in a unique position to immediately move your in-person appointment to a virtual appointment on demand. Our website offers the Smilesnap virtual appointment-and we are also offering dental monitoring to most of our aligner patients.

If you have any orthodontic emergency, any discomfort, broken bracket, lost or broken aligner or retainer please go to our website and take a Smilesnap virtual consult with pictures so I can asses what the next step is. You can also call, text, contact us via private messages on social media channels. We are here for you. If you do NOT have an emergency, your in person appointments for the next 2 weeks have been cancelled, however we will contact you for a virtual appointment on demand. Please be patient with us for next few days. We will reach out to each of you. We will be able to have Smilesnap, dental monitoring, Facetime or Skype virtual appointments depending on your preference. For those of you who need wax, more elastics, new retainer or aligner case, chewies, toothbrushes or more aligners, we are here 8am-5PM Mondays -Fridays. Please do NOT come to our front door, it will be closed. Please drive around to our back door and use the Ring device. We will bring out to you whatever you need. If you plan on coming after hours please contact us by any of our digital channels and we will tape whatever you need to our back door.I know this is an inconvenience and I am truly sorry for how this may affect your schedule. But my main goal right now is to keep your families and our team families and ultimately the community, healthy.

When I say we are here for you-we are-if you or a family member is sick and you need to quarantine and you need someone to pick up anything for you-please please let us know-we can pick up and bring your prescriptions or your groceries to your front door. We are just a text, phone call, social media private message away. We have many channels of communication and we are trying to monitor them all as much as possible so please reach out.I feel extremely blessed to have such a wonderful team and wonderful patients who have been so understanding with the new situation.

I am especially thankful for our medical doctors, nurses and the entire medical community who are in the front lines every day literally risking their lives to save all of ours. Please follow all their advice, CDC recommendations, self-quarantine as needed. Let’s all do our part-we are the body of Christ! Take advantage of this time on and count all the blessings that we have. There are many! There is an end to this situation and the most important things is to not despair. We live in the best country in the world, with tremendous resources and we will get through this together. And again we must take comfort in the fact that God is with us always. And “if God is for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31)?

Remember to smile,
Dr. Elena Black:)