{"id":52555,"date":"2020-07-23T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/safety-precautions-guide-dental-clinics-during-pandemic\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:00:25","slug":"safety-precautions-guide-dental-clinics-during-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/safety-precautions-guide-dental-clinics-during-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety precautions guide dental clinics during pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Cheryl
Cheryl Birchard, a dental assistant at Sunrise Dentistry in Durango, demonstrates how the Sentry Air System works when dentist Dr. Dale Strietzel would be working on a patient. The system pulls in 350 cubic feet of air and aerosols per minute and is used when Strietzel is drilling or handling mercury. The system is one of many precautions the office is taking during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 What does social distancing and personal safety look like for dentists and patients during the coronavirus pandemic?<\/p>\n

Regional dental care providers say they have implemented a series of changes and best practices to ensure routine cleanings and procedures can be done safely and to minimize the danger from a virus that can spread through airborne droplets.<\/p>\n

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Dental Association was one of the first national health associations to recommend postponing non-urgent or emergency procedures to decrease the spread of the coronavirus and conserve essential personal protective equipment. By late May, when dentists and doctors were beginning to reopen for nonemergency services, the association released a list of safety procedures<\/a> and recommendations to guide dental offices.<\/p>\n

Some of the recommendations were already considered best practices in the field, but the pandemic and the association\u2019s guidance have reinforced some of those practices, said Robyn Cole, a dental hygienist at Integrity Dental<\/a> in Farmington.<\/p>\n

She said Integrity Dental and many others have placed \u201cbarriers,\u201d or plastic coverings, on surfaces and tools used during a patient\u2019s visit. The replacement plastic sheeting should be on suction straws, equipment handled by the dentists and light handles. Those practices are included in the association\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n

Cole said one of the bigger changes her office has made is scheduling patient\u2019s appointments for 25 minutes longer. This change is to allow extra time for safety precautions, such as cleaning between patients and ensuring patients do not cross paths with other patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to allow for social distancing, so to speak,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sunrise Dentistry in Durango allows two patients in the waiting room at a time and has additional seating in the hall that is spaced 6 feet apart, said Carolyn Chandler, the front office manager at Sunrise. Chandler said the dental clinic also removed its carpet and installed hardwood floor and removed cloth furniture in favor of plastic furniture that can be wiped down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to do our best to keep everyone safe and keep everyone healthy,\u201d Chandler said.<\/p>\n

The American Dental Association\u2019s guidelines say patients should be screened for COVID-19 symptoms before entering the office. Both Sunrise Dentistry and Integrity Dental said they have implemented temperature checks and symptom screening questions before a patient is allowed into the buildings.<\/p>\n

Cole said the lengthier appointments have meant dental offices are not able to see as many patients each day as they were able to pre-pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe profit is not there when you do all of this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dentists are also required to wear more personal protective equipment than before. For many procedures, dentists and staff members are wearing a full gown, an N95 mask, a face shield and hair bonnets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very, very hot for us,\u201d Cole said. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to take everything on and off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cheryl
Cheryl Birchard, a dental assistant, demonstrates a patient&#x2019;s view of the Sentry Air System at Sunrise Dentistry in Durango. The system extracts air from the area where Dr. Dale Strietzel works on patients.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Strietzel\"
Strietzel<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sunrise Dentistry also has a Sentry Air System to extract air from the area where dentist Dr. Dale Strietzel works on a patient. The system pulls in 350 cubic feet of air and aerosols per minute and is used when the dentist is drilling or handling mercury.<\/p>\n

Federal support for clinics<\/div>\n

In a health care landscape becoming dominated by corporate models, dentistry has not escaped the trend. According to a 2020 review<\/a>, the dental field has moved toward an increasing number of dental support organizations, or corporate dental practices.<\/p>\n

In two letters<\/a> to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in mid-July, the American Dental Association urged Congress in the next coronavirus relief package to pass additional financial relief for smaller dental practices facing economic struggles and low profits.<\/p>\n

The association asked Congress to include tax credits for small dental practices buying additional personal protective equipment and making office safety improvements to meet new public health standards.<\/p>\n

While dental practices were allowed to apply for early rounds of the Paycheck Protection Program loans, the association is asking Congress to allow more flexibility in how small dental offices could use that money. It argues small businesses should be allowed to use the loan money to purchase personal protective equipment and to allow 501(c)(6) organizations, typically a membership-based business group, to apply for the loans, too.<\/p>\n

Offices are busy<\/div>\n

Despite any coronavirus concerns, most patients seem ready to schedule routine cleanings and dental procedures. Many offices in Durango cited busy schedules this week.<\/p>\n

Cole said only about 10% to 15% of Integrity Dental\u2019s patients seemed hesitant to come in. Often after explaining all the safety procedures, patients\u2019 worries were lessened, she said. If patients are seeking emergency and urgent services, they are often more willing to come in.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t out-wait the pandemic if you\u2019re in pain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chandler also said patients have expressed concern when calling to schedule a cleaning or dental procedure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have asked what are we doing to protect them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut after explaining everything, most of them have kept their appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole recommended concerned patients educate themselves about the American Dental Association recommendations and ask their own dental care provider if they have implemented the changes.<\/p>\n

Cole said she can understand patients might be nervous about coming in or frustrated about having to wait outside and having their temperatures checked, but she wished they could see all of the added work the dentists, hygienists and staff members do to protect them.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t stop going in for dental care,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s never the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

lweber@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

procedures, equipment protect patients, dentists from coronavirus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,799,13,28,1141,445,668],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-52555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-farmington","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-healthcare-provider","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88106,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52555\/revisions\/88106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52555"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=52555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}