There are some news articles currently circulating that question the safety of receiving dental treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. These articles also mention that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend postponing dental care until more information is known. We would like to address your concerns, because your safety is our top priority here at Hergott Dental Associates.
Dentistry has operated for decades even through major disease outbreaks, such as SARS, H1N1, Influenza, etc., so we realize that COVID-19 is not the first major respiratory virus outbreak we have seen. There has been no evidence to show that previous diseases spread through dental offices, including COVID-19. In fact, our own government agency, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) keeps track of how the virus is spreading and has this to say about dentistry:
“To date in the United States, clusters of healthcare personnel who have tested positive for COVID-19 have been identified in hospital settings and long-term care facilities, but no clusters have yet been reported in dental settings or among dental healthcare providers.”
The dental community’s diligence and commitment to stringent infection control protocols are the reasons the dental office has historically been a place of little to no respiratory infection transmission. And now, our office has incorporated even more stringent protocols. These include curb-side check-in to limit the number of patients in the office, mandating the wearing of masks by everyone in the office, utilizing intra-oral high evacuation devices for each patient having an aerosolized procedure, as well as installing HEPA filters to treat the circulating air in the dental office and “fogging” treatment rooms between patients just to name a few changes. Because of our continued and enhanced efforts, we feel confident that our patient’s safety is not compromised, and we are able to treat our patients in the safest manner possible.
We know that your oral health is an integral component of systemic health. Dentistry is an essential health care service because of its role in evaluating, diagnosing, preventing or treating oral diseases, which can affect your overall systemic health. Therefore, we feel that routine dental care is ESSENTIAL and not elective. It is important for us to help maintain your health, and we feel confident that we can do it in the safe dental environment that we’ve worked so hard to create for our patients.
Please feel free to call us with any questions or concerns you may have.
