How Dentists Can Help in the Corona Virus Pandemic
We hope you and your family have stayed safe during this pandemic. At some unknown point, dental offices as well as other businesses will be reopening. Continued diligence will be needed to fully eradicate the virus and prevent a resurgence. One of the most important ways a dental office can help maintain safety is to not overbook and stay on schedule to minimize the number of patients in the reception area. In our practice, we have historically run on time 95% of the time so this effort will be maintained. If your dental office usually has a full waiting room, then this may not be the ideal time to return.
Ongoing extra precautions in addition to our usual sterilization and disinfection protocols will be continued for the foreseeable future. These include the disinfection of common surfaces throughout the day such as the doorknobs, closet handles, coffee machines, counter surfaces etc. All staff members will have their temperatures taken upon arrival to work and anyone with any symptoms of being sick will be sent home. We will also be taking the temperature of every patient who enters our office and similarly reschedule anyone who is not perfectly healthy.
The American Dental Association is lobbying the government to allow dentists to administer corona virus testing. Most people go to the dentist routinely and only go to physicians when they are sick so dentists are in an unique position to be able to test a greater number of people to ensure the eradication of the virus. It has been reported that up to 20% of Americans have been exposed and are asymptomatic therefore becoming carriers further spreading the virus. Wouldn’t it be great when tests are finally available on a widespread basis to be able to test people in mass to identify any potential carriers? In addition, the development of antibody testing can identify people who may have been exposed asymptomatically but have the antibodies therefore verifying that these individuals can proceed with their work and personal lives without fear to themselves or those that they interact with. It would be a great service to be able to come in for a dental checkup, cleaning and corona screening. I hope that the government considers this to help accelerate a return to normalcy. ONE way that YOU can help is to contact your State Senators and your Congressman. You can email them and ask them to please consider saying yes to the ADA request that dentists administer corona virus testing to help get America safely back to normal. You can go to the following website to find your Senators and congressman, then click on their websites, and contact link and send them an email. Here is the site to find them: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members.
Lastly, your dental health interacts with your medical health in so many ways and poor dental health is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, strokes, diabetes, cancers, GI issues and more so getting back on track with routine dental care will contribute to your overall health in countless ways.
If you have any questions regarding how we can help, please feel free to contact us.
For more information, you can contact Dr. Michael Krochak at
drk@nycsmilespa.com
NYC Smile Spa
30 E. 60th St., Rm 1201
New York, NY 10022
(212) 838-2900
