According to the World Health Organization (WHO), coronaviruses are a broad family of viruses that can cause various conditions, from the common cold to more serious diseases, such as the coronavirus that causes the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS- CoV) and that which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV). A new coronavirus is a new strain of coronavirus that has not been found before in humans.
The dentist is in contact with areas that are extremely sensitive to the transmission of the virus. Therefore, the precaution must be pristine in how they prepare to care for patients. According to a survey in Melbourne, dentists can only perform emergency work during the lockdown.
More and more premises are known about the pandemic that is frightening the world. In this context, it was shown that there are four contagion factors at play: how close you get to a person, the amount of time you are close to the person, whether the person expels viral droplets (or droplets) on you when talking, coughing or sneeze and how much people touch their face, mainly their mouth, nose, and eyes.
Dentists are preparing to battle against an invisible enemy to which they are unfortunately easily exposed. From the moment before they enter the waiting room to be treated, everything will change to guarantee the safety of health professionals and patients.
Who need emergency dental care?
Any person with clinical symptoms compatible with an acute respiratory infection, of any severity, who presents fever and dyspnea, cough or general malaise, that is, an epidemiological criterion accompanied by, at least, one criterion In clinical practice, care should be taken to delay dental treatment (except for emergencies, of course) until the case is clarified, referring it to your family doctor with the corresponding suspicion report. In these cases, it is recommended to place a surgical mask on the patient before referral.
No doubt, Covid also creates business opportunities. As a first step, the dentist will give the patient all the elements so that they can be disinfected when they arrive from the street. Then we will give him a sterile disposable gown since it comes from outside, and we do not know what it was in contact with and gloves so that it does not touch any surface. In the professional case, they will have a special suit, an N95 chinstrap, goggles, or acrylic isolation screen, gloves, and boot covers. There is lots of the cry of “pandemic” from conspiracy theorists.
Dentist carries out the cleaning, disinfection, sterilization procedures and the basic biosafety standards that have been used, with some modifications because saliva is a transmission route for the virus and dentists are exposed to aerosols, saliva and a short working distance (less than 1 meter from the patient’s mouth, generally 50 cm).
For these reasons, there should be no items that touch each other in the waiting rooms, such as magazines, and more isolated shifts should be given.
In addition to the prevention of health professionals and the measures taken by patients who attend the office, the receptionists join this. In the place where attends, they are also adding a kind of cabinet so that there is no direct contact with patients.
They make it more than clear. Quarantine is to be at home. Dentists assume professionalism and hope that in a month, everything will pass. In the meantime, only go to them in an emergency.