Dear Tewksbury Dental Associates Dental Family,
The Massachusetts Dental Society (MDS)strongly recommends that dentists practicing in Massachusetts voluntarily suspend nonessential or non-urgent dental care. For this reason, we have elected to close our office beginning March 17, 2020.This is an unprecedented time in our world. We will re-evaluate on a weekly basis to determine when we feel it is safe for our patients and team to resume daily appointments to provide the amazing dental care you all expect. The MDS does not make this request lightly, and it is being done out of an abundance of caution during this historic public health emergency. As health care professionals, we all have a role to play in “flattening the curve” in order to follow sound, scientific public health advice to help limit infections and slow the spread of the virus. Our collective actions now will determine the spread of COVID-19, and our decision to close is being made after careful deliberation and in consultation with state and national public health experts. We believe by participating in these extraordinary precautions, dentists can make a difference in helping to preserve the limited supply of personal protective equipment critical for emergency dental care and frontline health care personnel responding to the pandemic.
As the facts and situation around COVID-19 (coronavirus) continue to evolve, and in step with Gov. Baker’s recent Declaration of a State of Emergency, including the call for all seniors over the age of 65 and residents with chronic conditions to self-isolate at home, we are following the recommended guidelines from the Mass Dental Society and plan to close our office to all non-emergency treatment and appointments beginning at 5pm today, Monday March 16th, 2020.
DENTAL EMERGENCY PROTOCOL DURING CLOSURE
Should you need us during the time of closure, one of our team will be on call and able to assist you. Our doctors will be here for emergencies and urgent care each day from 9am – 12 noon. If you experience a dental emergency please call our office. We will see patients between 9am-12noon and will be under the highest levels of infection control and protection.
Thank you for your patience and understanding in this unprecedented situation. We will keep you updated on our re-opening and the rescheduling of your appointments in our office.
Finally, I wanted to share something I received today from a friend of my youngest son.
“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
“And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
“And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”
~Kitty O’Meara
All the best to you and your families. Stay well!
Dr. Nahata and the TDA Team
