Smiles Plus Dental Care

09/26/2022

It is with great sadness and anticipation that I announce the closing of my Pittsfield dental practice upon my retirement, effective November 18, 2022. After practicing in this community for over 14 years, I deliberated long and hard about this decision.

All patient dental records will be safely stored when my practice closes. Our office will send copies of your dental records to you or your new dentist at your written request. If you have any questions, please contact our office during normal business hours at 217-285-4084.
Thank you for your trust and loyalty over the years. It has truly been a pleasure to provide for the dental needs of you and your family.

Roy Northcutt, DMD and the Smiles Plus Dental Team

To help locate your new dentist, I suggest using the Illinois State Dental Society’s free ‘Find a Dentist’ service at www.isds.org. Here you can search for a dentist using your address or zip code.

07/12/2021

12/02/2020

Check Out Our Team’s Amazing Creative Skills
Despite this year’s live events for the Pittsfield’s Deer Santa Festival being canceled, that didn’t stop our dental team from using their artistic talents to create what we believe will be the BEST display out on the courthouse lawn this year! Come by to see Rudolph, Hermey and that adorable Abominable Snowman.

05/28/2020

We truly hope you and your family are in good health. As you are well aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot of things about our daily lives and has affected our community in many ways over the past few months. We all look forward to resuming whatever normal habits and routines we can.

As you know, our office has been closed for all but emergency procedures since the middle of March (following recommendations of the American Dental Association, Illinois State Dental Society and Illinois Public Health Department.) With the recent updated federal and state guidance, we are happy to tell you we plan to reopen our practice to elective dental care beginning the week of June 1.

In the coming days, we will contact all of our patients whose appointments were canceled as a result of the pandemic. Please understand that for the time being, we will be operating at a much slower capacity due to the additional restrictions we are operating under such as social distancing and prescreening. We will be working with each of you to schedule an appointment as quickly as possible at a time that works best for you.

While many things have changed, one thing remains the same: our commitment to your health and safety. Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and will continue to be a top priority to keep our patients, team and community safe. With that in mind, when it is time for your next appointment, you will see and experience some changes.

For example:
• When we contact you before your appointment, we will ask you several screening questions. You will then be asked those same questions again when you are at our office.
• We ask that you arrive only a few minutes before your scheduled appointment time and limit additional people from also coming to the appointment unless absolutely necessary. Only the patient will be allowed in the treatment room.
• We ask that when you arrive at the office, you call us from your car. A team member will greet you outside to ask the screening questions, take and record your temperature, and have you sign a COVID-19 Dental Treatment Consent form before entering our building.
• You will be required to wear a face mask until seated in the treatment room, and you will be asked to use hand sanitizer upon entering the building.
• We will provide you protective eyewear to wear during your procedure.
• We have installed a protective barrier for our administrative team.
• You may notice our reception area has less chairs and will no longer offer magazines, newspapers, children's toys or books, as those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
• Appointment times will be managed to allow for greater social distancing between patients. This might mean you're offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment. This will mean that if you are unable to make your scheduled appointment, it will be critical for you to contact our office at least 48-hours in advance so we have the opportunity to provide that appointment time to another patient.
• We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients entering and exiting the building at any one time.
• Our team will be wearing additional protective equipment, such as face shields and different types of masks.
• We will be sanitizing our reception area, restroom and other high contact points more frequently.

All of these precautionary measures are being made to help protect you, your families, our team and our community.

In an effort to ease our backlog of patients, there may be times when our hygienists, Stacie and Vanessa, will be in their respective offices seeing patients for your continuing care needs when Dr. Northcutt is not physically present at the office. The advancements in electronic delivery of your dental records, called teledentistry, allows Dr. Northcutt to confidentially review your records, intraoral pictures and digital films and provide his medical opinion and recommendations for you even when he cannot be present in the office.

You will be informed before your appointment if Dr. Northcutt will or will not be present at your visit. You can choose not to participate in a teledentistry consultation. We will be happy to reschedule your appointment for a day and time that he will be in the office.

Regular dental visits are an essential part of your oral hygiene routine and are important for your overall health. We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have. To make an appointment, please call our Gillespie office at 217-839-2135 or our Pittsfield office at 217-285-4084.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we all continue to work through this ‘new normal.’ We appreciate you being our patient and truly look forward to seeing you soon.

Sincerely,

Dr. Roy Northcutt and the Smiles Plus Dental Care Team

04/02/2020

The Illinois State Dental Society has just updated their recommendation to follow Gov. J.B. Pritzker extending the “stay-at-home” order for all residents, directing people to remain in their homes except for essentials until the end of April to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
As a result, we will soon be contacting patients with appointments scheduled through April 30. Please know that we are still available for emergency visits. Again, we would like to thank you all for your understanding and patience and we cannot wait to serve you again.

03/18/2020

One of our number one priorities has always been the health and safety of our patients, team members and community. Consequently, after learning of the ISDS recommendation yesterday, we contacted all of our patients who had an appointment scheduled with us through March 31. The American Dental Association (ADA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have now also declared the same recommendation; however they extended the timeline through the first week of April.

This means that our Smiles Plus Dental Care team is only able to treat existing patients experiencing severe symptoms as outlined below:
• Severe toothache pain (not just a twinge)
• Abscess or swelling of your gums, face or neck
• Trauma (such as a broken tooth)

Contact us immediately if you are experiencing any of these symptoms so we can get you in as quickly as possible. Concentrating on emergency dental care will allow us to care for our emergency patients while alleviating the burden that emergency may have on our hospital emergency system.

All SPDC patients can have every confidence that we are following the guidelines by the ADA and CDC. This includes but is not limited to the following:
• All patients will have their temperature checked upon entering the building.
• Asking patients to arrive on time, not early, for appointments and/or remaining in their cars until a treatment room is ready to encourage social distancing.
• Ensuring our office team has the Personal Protective Equipment recommended by the CDC.
• Patients will be asked to rinse with antimicrobial rinse.
• Removing unnecessary objects or items like magazines and books from the reception areas.
• Asking patients to call our office instead of stopping by to pay a bill or ask a question.

We continue to follow the local and national updates daily and will continue to maintain the highest level of safety and patient care that you have come to expect. If you have any questions regarding your future appointments, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Our general office hours will be cut back in both offices, so if your phone call is after this time, please leave a message and one of our team members will call you back as quickly as possible.

We are committed to being part of the solution to reduce the spread of this virus. We are grateful for your loyalty, patience and support, and we thoroughly appreciate your continued trust and confidence. Together we can overcome these challenging circumstances and continue your path to greater health! We look forward to taking care of you at your next scheduled appointment.

03/16/2020

Illinois State Dental Society’s Recommendations Impacting Upcoming Dental Appointments

It was announced last evening that the ISDS is recommending dental offices treat only patients requiring emergency dental procedures. These measures align with Governor Pritzker’s mandates to limit the spread of COVID-19 and are currently in effect for the two week period beginning Tuesday, March 17 through Tuesday, March 31.

ISDS states that in the next two weeks, they anticipate that the Centers for Disease Control, American Dental Association and Illinois Department of Public Health may establish additional safety measures above and beyond their already comprehensive universal standards of infection control.

What does this mean to you?

Smiles Plus Dental Care is currently contacting our patients with appointments scheduled through March 31. We will be working to reschedule your appointment for the best time that works for you in the future.

If you do have a dental emergency, please call our office so you can be seen as soon as possible (Gillespie: 217-839-2135 and Pittsfield: 217-285-4084).

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding during this difficult time. Please be assured that we are following local and national updates daily and will continue to maintain the highest level of safety and patient care that you have come to expect. If you have any questions regarding your future appointments, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Thank you for being a valued patient with Smiles Plus Dental Care. We appreciate your continued trust and confidence. Together we can overcome these challenging circumstances and continue your path to greater health!

01/24/2020

Six-year-old, Zoey, was our star of the day yesterday. Thank you for being such a brave, young girl!!!!