Thrive-Health Guide Southern West Virginia August 2020 - Page 23

For dentists, the risk of coming
into contact with those respiratory
droplets is greatly increased
because most dental procedures
result in aerosols, which are small
airborne particles that can also
spread the virus.
“If you analyze what we do, then
we could potentially be a super
spreader in no time because when
we use a drill or the ultra-sonic
cleaning tool, it creates a big aerosol,”
Childress said.
Knowing the added risks that
come with his profession as well
as the safety measures being put
in place to account for those risks,
Childress said he has leaned on
other dentists in the area to make
sure he was doing all he could to
ensure the safety of his patients
and staff.
“There was probably 15 or 20 of
us on a group text the week before
everything really went down and
we were consulting with each
other, ‘Hey, I ran into this. What
do you think about this idea?’ and
bouncing stuff off of each other,”
Childress said. “We did that probably
daily for about the first three,
four weeks and then a couple
times a week since then.”
Childress said they talked about
what they thought some of the
guidelines might and should be in
order to better prepare themselves
for their eventual reopening.
While the support from the
other local dentists has been great,
reopening has come with its own
set of challenges.
Dr. Travis Wills, a dentist with
Shady Spring Dental Care, said
their biggest challenge has been in
regard to patient flow.
Wills said the waiting rooms
are essentially not existent now as
everyone, including the patients
and staff, have to be placed and
staggered in a way that limits all
interactions.
“The office that we work mostly
out of is a larger office that has
multiple dentists and multiple
hygienists and it’s been much
more difficult than we anticipated
coordinating all the patients arriving
and not being able to use the
waiting room as we did before,” he
said.
Preparation for a visit at any one
of the dentist offices located in
the area typically begins the day
before an appointment with a call
to the patient in order to conduct
a pre-screening COVID-19 questionnaire.
Patients are asked a number
of questions including whether
they have flu-like symptoms or a
fever or have been in contact with
anyone who has tested positive for
COVID-19.
On the day of their appointment,
patients must wait in their
car and undergo another screening
by a staff member, which
includes the same type of questioning
and a reading of their temperature.
Patients must also sign a
release signifying that they understand
they are increasing their
risk of contracting COVID-19 by
entering the office.
Inside the office, prior to escorting
a patient to his or her room,
everything has to be cleaned and
sanitized, a process which Beckley
dentist Kevin Bailey said typically
takes about 15 minutes.
During the procedure, almost
everyone working in the room will
wear a full-length surgical gown, a
mask and a face shield.
Childress said they try to make
sure they have specific personal
protective equipment for each
room.
“So the (mask) I use in treatment
room 1 only stays in that
room. So when I leave that room
to go do an exam or a hygiene
check, I have to take that mask
off and leave it in that room, and
the gown and the face shield, and
then I but on my general mask,
walk down the hall, take it off, put
on the hygiene room 2 masks and
gown and face shield and then do
the checkup,” he said. “The first
two days were rough remembering
everything, but it’s starting to
be just routine now.”
At Shady Spring Dental Care,
Wills said they rotate the type of
procedure doctors do each day to
further cut down on the possibility
of contracting or spreading the
virus.
“The model that we have is we
rotate through. Each doctor does
a hygiene day – so today I did not
do any aerosol procedures today;
I just checked all the hygiene patients
in the practice today while
the other doctors were able to do
their work,” he said.
Overall, Wills said patients have
been receptive to these added
safety measures regardless of their
personal feelings or beliefs regarding
the virus. He also said that
very few patients have canceled
citing safety concerns.
Wills, Bailey and Childress said
the added safety measures have
been costly.
AUGUST 2020 • THRIVE • 23