COVID-19 Dental Protocol


My Dental Office Is Closed, What Does That Mean For Me?
Although the office is closed, we are still here for you. The office is following the recommendations from the
American Dental Association,Massachusetts Dental Society and theCenter for Disease Control (CDC)and has been closed for any elective treatment since March 16th. We will re-open to our regular schedule when the recommendations change and allow us to do so. As of now, we plan to be back in the office on June 8th, 2020. If this changes, we will notify you. We are available for dental emergencies as well as teledentistry. Teledentistry allows the patient to consult with the doctor without coming into the office to determine the necessary treatment plan.

What Is A Dental Emergency?
The American Dental Association (ADA) has a great resource for patients at
mouthhealthy.orgwith a complete list of emergent and non-emergent dental care. The most common examples are:

• Severe pain in or around your mouth, in a tooth, jaw or bone
• Gum infection with pain or swelling
• Bleeding that doesn’t stop
• After surgery treatment
• Broken/knocked out tooth, that is cutting tongue/cheek
• Denture adjustment for cancer patients
• Loss of temporary crowns/bridges


If you are experiencing a problem please call the emergency line at (978) 219-9760 or email the office at appointments@salemdentalartsma.com and we will be happy to help.

What Is Salem Dental Arts Doing To Keep Patients Safe That Do Come In?
While treating emergency patients during this time, we will only have one patient in the office at one time, limiting the total number of people to three people in the office during each appointment. If multiple emergencies are scheduled on the same day, you may be asked to wait in your car until we are ready to see you.

Before you schedule the appointment, you will be asked a series of questions, which we ask for the safety of our patients and our staff that you are honest. The questions will include:

• Have you traveled in the past 14 days?
• Have you been in close proximity at any gatherings of 10 or more persons in the past 14 days?
• Have you been in contact with a person who has been confirmed or suspected to be positive for COVID-19 in the last 14 days?
• Have you had a fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, runny nose or sore throat?


When arriving at the office, we first ask patients to sanitize their hands. The doctor or assistant will discuss the risks of dental treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic and ask the patient to sign a consent form. Before we start the procedure, we will have the patient use a peroxide-based pre-rinse.

Dr. Maragliano will evaluate your tooth and determine if it needs immediate treatment. If she decides that is in in the best interest of your dental/overall health to provide treatment, she will do her best to minimize the amount of aerosols being produced. If definitive treatment can wait 30 days, a temporary solution may be done instead. This means if a patient has a broken tooth, a temporary filling may be placed and will need to return for a permanent restoration.

After each procedure, in addition to our standard disinfection and sterilization procedures, we are sanitizing all counter tops, door handles (including entry, waiting room and restrooms) and waiting room chairs with hospital-grade disinfectant after each patient. In addition, we have removed most items from our waiting room to minimize the risk for cross contamination.

I Missed My Hygiene Visit, What Should I Do At Home?
As always, continue to brush and floss, oral health is part of overall health. Brushing your teeth at least twice a day, for two minutes and flossing daily is always important. Some products we use at Salem Dental Arts to keep our mouths healthy are:

• An electric toothbrush! Oral B or Sonicare both work great
• OraCare mouth rinse
• MI Paste, MI Paste Plus, MI Paste ONE
• Cocofloss


If there are any products you typically purchase during your hygiene visits that you are in need of, or are interested in trying something new, let us know and we can arrange a curbside pick-up or even mail the product to you.

It is very important tochange your toothbrushevery 3 months or after being sick. If you have been ill, whether it is a common cold, flu or COVID-19, please dispose of your toothbrush and use a new one when your symptoms go away. If you need a new manual toothbrush, call us and we will arrange for a curbside pickup.
Many people are using this time to prioritize health, wellness and fitness and we have been receiving calls about our at-home tooth whitening system. If you wish to whiten your teeth while you are home, please call us and we will arrange for a curbside pickup.

Stay Safe!
Our main priority right now is that our patients and our staff stay safe during this unprecedented time. We ask you, if you can, stay home and stay safe. We can’t wait to get back to normal and see all of our patients, but until then stay healthy.

Share by: