The Dentist

Yesterday was my long awaited trip to the dentist. It was just for a cleaning (that had been postponed from August), and according to this article about when to go to the dentist during a pandemic, they say it's safe if the positive testing rate in your area is below 5%. Right now, it's 4.4% for my county, and while cases in the country and my state are going up, they're remaining steady or even going down in my local area. So I felt like it was ok to keep my appointment. 

As usual, they called in advance to remind me of my appointment, but also gave me a health screening over the phone (have I had a fever, have I had a cough, have I traveled in the last 14 days, have I been around anyone with a positive diagnosis, etc.). When I arrived at the office, someone was sitting at a table outside to take my temperature and ask me the same screening questions. She checked off my responses on a paper, which I had to sign and hand in at the front desk when I entered. I used a pen from the "clean pens" cup and placed it in the "used pens" cup when finished. The office door was propped open so we didn't have to touch the handle.

At the front desk, a plexiglass panel covered the opening, except for a small slot through which I slid my form. They'd removed most of the chairs, and all magazines and decor from the waiting room; and a small air purifier device had been installed on a central column. The door into the treatment area was also propped open. There was hand sanitizer all over, which I took advantage of using.

My hygenist came out to call me back. She was wearing two masks, goggles, a cap over her hair, and a surgical gown over her scrubs. (She later told me that they had on-site laundry services, so she could change out of all her clothes before leaving.) This office has about 8-10 chairs for patients, all separated by kind of partial walls. My hygenist works out of the last seat, so it was actually enclosed on 3 sides. Again, all decor had been removed from the area, and everything that used to be stored in the open or on countertops is now inside drawers. Each work area had its own air purifier, which she said run 24 hours a day. I was given a tray lined with paper to lay my mask on, and the chair was protected with a disposable plastic cover (but she said they also wipe everything down between patients - this is just an extra layer of protection that some of them choose to use).

Before beginning the cleaning, I rinsed my mouth with a special antibacterial mouthwash that she said could kill viruses and prevent germs from coming out in an aerosol spray. The rest of the treatment was pretty typical - they always open a new, sanitized kit of tools, all the steps were done, etc. One difference was that instead of cutting a piece of dental floss from a roll, she opened an individually wrapped packet of pre-cut floss.

When she was finished, the hygenist called in the dentist for his exam. Because the dentists now have to don and doff PPE, they each take an hour-long block to do any exams, so they don't have to keep changing in and out of gear, so it wasn't my usual dentist. But the exam was uneventful, and I was cleared to go.

I took my mask from its tray and put it back on, and went to the front desk by myself (usually the hygenist would accompany a patient back out, so maybe they are limiting their movements and contacts, or taking this extra time to disinfect between patients). I set up my next appointment from behind the plexiglass window, and exited through all the propped open doors. 

It's probably overkill, but just to be super safe, my husband and I are trying to distance from each other for the next few days. We're not wearing masks in the house and I'm still cooking dinners, but just in case I would have become infected, at least if we're staying apart he wouldn't be exposed to as high a viral load as he would if we were kissing, sitting next to each other, breathing on each other in bed, etc. His dental appointment is in a couple weeks, so we'll get to do this all over again then...