5 Tips for Healthy Teeth at School

Summer is a favorite time in our office because we get to see our high school grads before they start their college careers.

Whether you’re starting your first year of college or moving out for the first time, we’ve got you covered! Here are some helpful tips for keeping your teeth healthy during this new and exciting time.

5 tips for healthy teeth:

Create good habits.
As you acclimate to your new home-away-from-home, take time to develop a good hygiene schedule. We recommend brushing twice a day and flossing once a day. Keep your toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss in a handy location so that they are easy to access. Sharing a bathroom or living in the dorm? We recommend keeping your dental items in a travel bag so that everything stays together.

Be mindful of your eating and drinking habits.
What we eat and drink can change in new environments. Be mindful of what you’re consuming – foods and drinks high in sugars and acids can contribute to decay and other problems.  

Replace your toothbrush.
The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends replacing your toothbrush every 3 months. Add an alert to your phone, make a note in your planner, or use another creative way to remember to bust out a new toothbrush. Toothbrushes with worn bristles can be abrasive to your teeth.

Use a fluoridated toothpaste.
Eating and drinking habits can change when you’re away from home so we recommend using a fluoridated toothpaste to help prevent decay and keep tooth enamel strong. Our office offers two toothpaste options – ask us which one is best for you!

See your dentist every six months.
Regular checkups are important to maintaining good dental health. We recommend always scheduling your next appointment when you’re in our office, but understand that life can be unpredictable.  New to scheduling your appointments? You can contact us by phone, text, or email to set up an appointment! CLICK HERE to request an appointment, or contact us by text or call at 952-922-2214.

We hope you find these tips useful and can’t wait to hear about your new school experiences at your next visit.

We're Happy You're Here

Our Response to Covid-19

We are excited to have returned to our office and that we’ll be seeing you soon. We’ve changed a lot in our office to ensure that we can continue to provide a safe environment for both you and our team. These changes include staggering our appointments to allow for social distancing and revising how we welcome our patients into our office.

Changes to Our Approach to Your Dental Care

• Face Coverings
  We are still requiring all patients to wear a face-covering or face mask in our medical office. Should you need a face mask, one will be provided upon your arrival at our office.

• Covid Screening and Acknowledgement of Risk Form
  All patients must complete our Covid-19 screening form prior to their appointment. This will be sent electronically one business day before your visit, usually in a text message.

  • If you are unable to use the electronic version of our form, we ask that you print and complete the form at home, or request a copy when you arrive in our office.

  • Click Here for our Covid Screening Form.

• Arrival and Our Waiting Area
  We have minimized our waiting room capacity and ask that you arrive at your scheduled appointment time and no sooner. If you would prefer to wait in your car, we ask that you call us upon your arrival. Once your provider is ready for your appointment, we will text you to come to our office.

  • Our telephone number is 952-922-2214.

Changes to Our office

• Medical Grade Air Purifying System
  Our air has never been cleaner! We have installed surgical grade air purifying system in each of our treatment rooms as well as our reception area. The JADE Air Purification System utilizes multi-stage air purifying technologies that work together to clean, purify and re-energize the indoor air. The multi stage filtration system captures dust particles, pollen, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), mold, allergens, viruses, odors (like formaldehyde and smoke), bio-aerosols, nitrous oxide, and many other pollutants that are found in the inside air in workplaces and residences.

  For more information about our JADE Air Purification system, click here.

• Clear Barriers
  Our front desk has been fitted with hard plastic barriers to help block the movement of airborne particles.

• Masks and Face Shields
  Our clinical team may look a little different than before with their N95 masks and face shields.

• Instrument Sterilization
  We have always maintained a strict infection control protocol for the protection of both our staff and our patients. We use hospital-grade disinfectants across the entire office, with extensive room cleaning after each patient to ensure a safe and clean environment. After each use, all dental instruments receive the highest level of medical sterilization available. These processes have always been of utmost importance in our office and will continue to be the standards we uphold for our community.

Our team is here to help. Please call us at 952-922-2214 with any questions or to schedule your next appointment.

Welcome Back

Dear Friends of our Practice:

We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety and health.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations.

You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

• We will communicate with you before your appointment to ask some screening questions. Our goal is to obtain this pre-appointment information electronically via email or text before your arrival.

• We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office.  We also ask that you wear a face covering or a mask to your visit.  

• You may see that our reception area will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and our beloved toy chest as these items are difficult to disinfect.   

• Appointments will be staggered to allow for social distancing between patients which will allow for individualized check-in and check-out times at your visit.  

• We will do our best to allow greater time spacing between patient visits.  This will reduce waiting times for you, and will also reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.  

• When your appointment approaches, we ask you to contact us via phone or text before leaving your car.  We will notify you when we are ready for your arrival.  

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. We are well aware of the postponement to many appointments over this period and our goal is to help our patients get back in to see us in a timely manner.  To make an appointment, please call our office at 952-922-2214 or visit our website at www.edinadentalcare.com.  

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.

Sincerely,

Michael T. Kratz, DDS