River Ridge Family Dentistry and Integrated Oral Health

05/24/2023

Introducing our newest hygienist, Macie! She is now scheduling cleaning appointments; if you need an appointment, give us a call at 616-538-7320!

12/17/2021

Merry Christmas from the River Ridge crew!!

12/01/2021

Help us support Hope Unexpected this holiday season! Now accepting diapers at our office for their diaper drive. Please drop off any donations by December 6 :)

Thank you to all the amazing businesses in our community that are helping us provide diapers to single mothers in need! Grandville Dental Health Center PC The Parlour GR Lombardo's Pizza of Jenison , and River Ridge Family Dentistry and Integrated Oral Health

06/23/2021

Join our new Patient Portal to check appointment times, send messages to staff, and fill out necessary forms before your appointment! Follow the link below to sign up today!

https://riverridgedentistry.mydentistlink.com

01/07/2021

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Maring to River Ridge Dentistry!

10/08/2020

The October local business we're highlighting is Full Circle Coffee in Byron Center. Not only do they serve delicious coffee, but they also have a great open space, so you can safely spread out and sip your coffee for a while or take one to go. Like (and share) this post to spread the word about this local business! Existing patients who like this post will be entered to win one of 6 $15 gift cards to this wonderful local Coffee Shop! https://www.full-circlecoffee.com/

Coffee shop and mobile espresso caterer serving Byron Center, Grand Rapids and West Michigan at large.

09/14/2020

Our September local business is Malamiah Juice Bar. Located at Studio Park in downtown Grand Rapids, Malamiah is an amazing juice bar offering healthy and delicious juices, smoothies, and acai bowls. Simply like this post to be registered to win one of four $25 gift cards! Winners will be chosen in the next 48 hours. malamiahjuicebar.com

08/11/2020

We are so happy to be back to work and busy again! To show our support to other local businesses impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown, we are giving away gift cards. This month we are supporting a newly opened restaurant, Wolverine Tacos. Simply, like this post to be entered to win a $50 gift card. wolverinetacos.com

06/01/2020

Have you always wanted dental benefits, but thought the plans were too expensive and complicated? Did you lose dental benefits when you retired? Does your employer not offer dental benefits?

Great news! River Ridge Dentistry is now offering our very own Membership Plan so you and your family can have access to simple, affordable, and COMPREHENSIVE dental care.

Our membership plan is simple to understand, and covers all your cleanings, exams, and routine x-rays.

PLUS, you get discounts on all other procedures like fillings, crowns and root canals.

And pricing for our plan and all our procedures is COMPLETELY transparent. So, you know exactly what you will pay before accepting treatment.

And it’s SO easy to sign up! In less than 2 minutes you and your family can be covered, and you can start using the plan immediately. Even for your next visit!

You can sign up for our Membership Plan by calling our office, or at kleer.com using our unique office code HY7R.

If you have any questions or need more information, give us a call at (616)538-7320. Sign up for our Membership Plan today and have one MORE thing to smile about!

05/22/2020

COVID-19 UPDATE:

We are able to open our office again beginning on May 29. As you can see, things will look a little different, Please read our update below:

These last 2.5 months have been a time filled with uncertainty, information, anxiety and life-style changes for everyone. As we all navigate this ‘new normal’, we want you to know that we as an office are so thankful to be a part of this community and are eager and ready to serve you again. Dr. Helmus has been safely treating emergency patients during this time, and he even had a few people that were EXCITED to get to go to the dentist. I guess it took a pandemic to get people excited about the dentist! We feel excited to get to be here again as well.

If you had an appointment that was cancelled during this shutdown, you should have been contacted to reschedule. If you have not been reached or were somehow missed in our schedule, please call us to make an appointment. As you remember, our beloved Kathy was set to retire in May. We are pleased to add Erin to our wonderful team, and you will get to meet her next time you come in! Please give us extra grace as we navigate new jobs, new protocols, and a complicated schedule impacted by 2.5 months of a shutdown.

As a dental office, we already have very strict standards of infection control in place that are meant to combat a wide range of infectious diseases. Now that COVID-19 is a part of life, we have implemented some additions to our protocols to best protect ourselves and our patients.

When you arrive at the office:

Prior to your appointment please check the COVID-19 symptom checker on our website (and attached below). Please reschedule your appointment if necessary. If you are a high-risk individual, please contact the office about special hours for an appointment.

If you are wearing a mask, come in as you normally would. Due to the size of our waiting room we are able to accommodate you with appropriate social distancing. If you are not comfortable with this, please remain in your car and call 616-538-7320 when you arrive.

If you are over the age of 18, please come into your appointment by yourself. Ideally, spouses/drivers should wait in their cars whenever possible. Please do not bring additional children or family members to appointments at this time.

When you walk in, please use the hand sanitizer provided at the front counter.

We have installed clear barriers for better protection during our patient and administrative team interactions.

Before treatment we will check your temperature with a no-touch thermometer.

In the patient room:

We have installed UV and HEPA air purifiers in each dental operatory, along with one in the waiting area and administrative area. These filters turn over the air in a room minimally 5 times every hour.

Our clinical team will be utilizing additional PPE to keep them and our patients safe.

You will be asked to rinse with ozonated water before any dental procedure or cleaning.

After your procedure:

We will continue to use the same OSHA guidelines that we have always been using, but will take extra care and time in disinfecting treatment areas, as well as allowing more time between patients for our air purifiers to turn over the air in the room before the next patient arrives.

COVID-19 Symptom Checker

Before your appointment, Please read through this list of questions:

1. Do you have a fever, or have you felt hot or feverish recently (14-21 days)?
2. Are you having shortness of breath or other difficulties breathing?
3. Do you have a cough?
4. Are you experiencing any other flu-like symptoms, such as gastrointestinal upset, headache, or fatigue?
5. Have you experienced recent loss of taste or smell?
6. Are you in contact with any confirmed COVID-19 positive patients? Patients who are well but who have a sick family member at home with COVID-19 should consider postponing elective treatment.
7. Have you traveled in the past 14 days to any regions affected by COVID-19 (as relevant to your location)?

If you can answer yes to any of these questions, please postpone your dental appointment. If you answered no to these questions, but your age or medical conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, diabetes, or any auto-immune disorder, put you at higher risk, you may want to consider postponing/rescheduling your appointment for elective treatment.

05/08/2020

We miss our patients!! Although we do not have a definite date to return to normal operations, we are open to see your emergencies and essential work. Please call the office if you have any questions. We are also working hard to elevate our current protocols to keep our staff and patients safe (and having a little fun while we do this!)

03/16/2020

As evidence of the constantly changing information we receive each day, River Ridge Dentistry is closing for non-emergency care for two weeks. This difficult decision was made following recommendations from the CDC and the Michigan Dental Association. If you have a dental emergency please call the office, you will be connected with Dr. Helmus, and arrangements will be made so that you can receive treatment. We apologize for the inconvenience this causes, but we needed to make this decision for the health of our patients, staff, and community. If you are scheduled during the next couple weeks, we will be in touch to reschedule.

Thank you,
Dr. Jeff Helmus and River Ridge Dentistry

03/16/2020

As of tonight we are moving forward with seeing our healthy patients tomorrow (and hopefully all of next week). In addition to our rigorous infection control protocols, new measures will be put into place including requiring patients to gargle with ozonated water before treatment to ensure the health and safety of our patients and staff. If you are healthy with no symptoms of illness in the past 5 days and have not travelled via airplane domestically or abroad in the last 14 days, you are welcome to keep your appointment. If you are at all uncomfortable coming in, please reschedule with no charge or penalty. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ozones-effectiveness-killing-sars-coronavirus-000000776.html

Since ozone has been proven to kill 99.999 percent of pathogens in the air, including SARS Coronavirus and influenzas such as H5N1, researchers anticipate that it may be an important tool in preventing the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

03/09/2020

If you suffer from temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMD, you know it can be painful. Dr. Helmus, our TMD dentist, can help you decide if occlusal equilibration is the right treatment for you.

If you’ve been diagnosed with TMJ, occlusal equilibration might be the treatment that changes your life. Dr. Helmus is our Wyoming MI TMJ dentist. Call today!

03/04/2020

How many of you have enjoyed seeing this smiling face at our office over the years? Our beloved Kathy is retiring! If you or someone you know is interested in being that next smiling face, let us know. Please email info@riverridgedentistry.com if you would like more information about this position.

03/02/2020

Do you want a whiter smile? Here’s why Dr. Helmus, our teeth whitening dentist, recommends making an appointment for in-office teeth whitening.

Teeth whitening is an easy way to improve your smile. Call River Ridge Dentistry for an appointment with Dr. Helmus, our Wyoming MI teeth whitening dentist.

02/28/2020

It takes about a month to fully get used to wearing dentures. Read our updated blog post to learn what you can expect.