Important Information Regarding COVID-19

Virtual and In-Office Consultations Available

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Thank you to our West Michigan community for being strong during this global pandemic, for continuing to wear masks, and for following the very important social distancing guidelines. You have no doubt helped us save lives. We understand that many of you will have questions and concerns about coming back to our office to seek treatment. Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons, because of our extensive training in medicine and surgery, have always been experts on hospital grade infection control. As such, West Michigan Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery was ready to implement the necessary steps to ensure patient safety during the COVID-19 crisis. In addition to our usual robust standards in infection control, we have implemented the following steps in response to these unprecedented circumstances:

• Multiple layers of COVID-19 screening, both over the phone and at the offices
• Improved social distancing protocols for the offices; this includes the removal of magazines, self-serve coffee makers, toys, and the installation of barriers throughout the waiting rooms
• Increased use of PPE, N95s, face shields, and gowns
• Continuously working to improve the suction systems at each office, to better capture aerosols right at the source
• Placing “catch and kill” UV Light/HEPA filtration unites in each surgical room, at each office
• Creating negative pressure rooms in some offices, to quickly evacuate the air from each room and out of the building
• At some offices, installing a combination of the iWave® ionization and the Second Wind®FDA-approved UV light system into the HVAC system to control the entire office environment
• Even more rigorous infection control protocol, which includes regular disinfecting of the entire office, spraying down every possible surface, from the floor to the ceiling, at regular intervals
• Utilizing Telehealth, or Virtual Consults when possible, for your safety and convenience
• Minimizing traffic into the surgery rooms (only one accompanying parent for minors, please, and no accompanying parent for adult patients)

West Michigan Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery has elected to take a multi-layered approach to do our part to keep everyone in our community safe. We don’t simply want to meet the minimum safety standards set for by others.  We feel it is important that we raise the bar and create the new standard for infection control during this pandemic and beyond. You can be confident that we are doing the right thing to protect you and your family, and we look forward to seeing you again.

More information:

• Ionization deactivates pathogens by removing their hydrogen atoms
• UV-C (254-280 nm wavelength) radiation works by directly destroying microbial nucleic acids
• Photo oxidation, UV light works through a catalyst to produce free radicals that will in turn destroy microbial nucleic acids.
• HEPA filters will filter 99.97% of particles up to 0.3 μm.
• For more information in iWave®, click here
• For more information on the Second Wind®, click here
• For more information on Guardian Technologies®, click here

Selected References:

1. Lytle, C. D., & Sagripanti, J.-L. (2005). Predicted inactivation of viruses of relevance to biodefense by solar radiation. Journal of Virology, 79(22), 14244–14252.
2. Sagripanti, J.-L., & Lytle, C. D. (2007). Inactivation of influenza virus by solar radiation. Photochemistry and Photobiology, 83(5), 1278–1282.
3. Streifel AJ. Design and maintenance of hospital ventilation systems and prevention of airborne nosocomial infections. In: Mayhall CG, ed. Hospital epidemiology and infection control, 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1999:1211–21.
4. Welch, D., Buonanno, M., Grilj, V., Shuryak, I., Crickmore, C., Bigelow, A. W., et al. Far-UVC light: A new tool to control the spread of airborne-mediated microbial diseases. Nature 2018; 8:2752: 1-7.
5. Kampf, G., Todt, D., Pfaender, S., & Steinmann, E. (2020). Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents. Journal of Hospital Infection, 104(3), 246–251.