{"id":47,"date":"2021-01-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westmaitlanddentistry.com\/safety-of-dentistry-during-covid\/"},"modified":"2021-01-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T00:00:00","slug":"safety-of-dentistry-during-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westmaitlanddentistry.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/26\/safety-of-dentistry-during-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety of Dentistry During COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The arrival of the COVID-19 virus has altered the day to day norm for most of us.\u00a0 With no signs of the pandemic ending soon some patients find themselves in a dilemma. Do you put off dental care or is it safe to visit the dentist?\u00a0 In this blog we\u2019re going to address the safety of dentistry during COVID.<\/p>\n<p>First though, to answer that question we need to briefly discuss what COVID-19 actually is.\u00a0 COVID-19 is a highly transmissible virus respiratory virus.\u00a0 It is transmitted from person to person by droplets. \u00a0These droplets can come from sneezing, coughing and talking. You can also get it from from touching your eyes, face or mouth after touching a contaminated surface.\u00a0 For more information on the virus and the possible symptoms and effects the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/downloads\/2019-ncov-factsheet.pdf\">CDC<\/a> is a great source of information.<\/p>\n<p>With all the aerosols that we generate during dental procedures it is no wonder why there may be some hesitation on visiting the dentist.\u00a0 But findings show that the transmission rate of COVID-19 in dentists is less than 1%.\u00a0 Why so low?\u00a0 Here some of the things our dental office and most offices are doing to make sure that rate stays low:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some precautions were standard even before the pandemic, such as:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Infection control<\/em> to decrease transmissions of diseases. \u00a0This includes keeping up to date with OSHA standards.<\/li>\n<li><em>Autoclave machines <\/em>to sanitize instruments using high heat.<\/li>\n<li><em>Barriers\u00a0<\/em>for items that cannot be placed in high heat. \u00a0In these situations we cover items in disposable, one time use plastic barriers. \u00a0The items are still disinfected before and after barrier placement.<\/li>\n<li><em>Universal protocols <\/em>where we\u00a0treat every patient as if they have a transmissible disease regardless of what their health history states.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>With the pandemic though we have implemented some new protocols such as:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Daily temperature checks of both patients and staff members.<\/li>\n<li>Pre-screening questions before entering the office.<\/li>\n<li>Limiting patients in our waiting room.<\/li>\n<li>Socially distancing patients in two separate waiting areas.<\/li>\n<li>The removal of sharable objects in our waiting room, such as the coffee bar, books, games, remote controls.<\/li>\n<li>Requiring face masks for all patients entering the office and building.<\/li>\n<li>The use of respirators and face shields for our staff.<\/li>\n<li>Implementing aerosol minimizing techniques or devices:<\/li>\n<li>Isolation device that isolate the tooth (teeth) being worked on from the rest the mouth.<\/li>\n<li>Suction devices that remove aerosols before they leave the patients mouth.<\/li>\n<li>Cleaning patients teeth with hand instruments instead of our ultrasonic machines that can produce aerosols.<\/li>\n<li>Vaccines- to help keep us and our patients safe we are undergoing the vaccination process.<\/li>\n<li>Taking continuing education courses on how to decrease transmission and the best protocols for handling the disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>There are still things you can do to make sure you have a safe visit, some of these include:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wear a mask at all times until told to remove it.<\/li>\n<li>If you have any COVID like symptoms stay home.<\/li>\n<li>Use hand sanitizer before and after your appointment.<\/li>\n<li>Consider the COVID vaccine if possible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When looking at all the facts remember that prolonging <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westmaitlanddentistry.com\/blog\/benefits-of-dental-exams-in-maitland-fl\/\">dental exams<\/a> can lead to worsening oral health. \u00a0Also, since everyone\u2019s medical history is different contact your medical doctor if you have any concerns about the safety of dentistry during COVID when it comes to your health conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The arrival of the COVID-19 virus has altered the day to day norm for most of us.\u00a0 With no signs of the pandemic ending soon some patients find themselves in a dilemma. Do you put off dental care or is it safe to visit the dentist?\u00a0 In this blog we\u2019re going to address the safety [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Safety of Dentistry During COVID - West Maitland Dentistry Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westmaitlanddentistry.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/26\/safety-of-dentistry-during-covid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Safety of Dentistry During COVID - West Maitland Dentistry Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The arrival of the COVID-19 virus has altered the day to day norm for most of us.\u00a0 With no signs of the pandemic ending soon some patients find themselves in a dilemma. 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