Is it Safe to Go to the Dentist During COVID-19?
Like so many other industries across the US (and really, the world), the dental industry has been dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), 90% of all dental offices opted to close except for urgent or emergency procedures, per guidelines directly from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The main reason for this, of course, is due to the nature of how novel coronavirus is spread—mainly via respiratory droplets—and how likely it is for the virus to spread in the dental setting. And while personal protective equipment (PPE) can be an effective barrier, due to the shortage, there isn’t enough gear available to go around—even for emergency healthcare workers. (Dentists in France have even taken to protesting these PPE shortages by getting naked.)
But now, as social distancing guidelines are starting to relax across the country, many states—39 as of May 13, per the ADA's interactive map—are allowing dental offices to reopen for elective procedures, such as teeth cleaning. But should you make an appointment ASAP, or is it better to wait it out a little bit longer? And if you do need an emergency dental procedure, what types of safety precautions are dental offices taking to ensure not only your health, but the health of their employees? Here's everything you know about going to the dentist right now, during a pandemic.
How safe is it to go to the dentist right now, in
general?
So let's
say your state is allowing dental offices to be open for elective procedures.
There are a few things you, as a patient, should know about your risk of
contracting COVID-19 in a dental setting—specifically regarding how exposed you
are as a dental patient.
Because
COVID-19 spreads primarily through respiratory droplets that often make their
way into your mouth, nose, or even eyes, you may be putting yourself in danger
while sitting in the dentist chair (remember: dental hygienists and dentists
are all up in your mouth during cleanings and procedures—and you wearing a mask
is basically impossible). Viral transmission can happen if someone isn't
showing symptoms yet, so even if a dental office is making staff who are
showing symptoms stay home, that won't be helpful if a staffer is asymptomatic.
That said, "as long as the dentist and assistants wear masks and get
tested," a dental procedure can be perfectly safe, Joseph Vinetz, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious
disease doctor and professor at Yale School of Medicine, tells Health.
What many
fail to consider in these situations is the health and safety of the dentists
and dental hygienists, who are actually much more at risk for contracting
COVID-19 than patients, Bill Dorfman, DDS, a Los
Angeles-based celebrity cosmetic dentist, tells Health. It comes
down to proper PPE again—while dental staff wear face masks and protective
eyewear, patients cannot. (Overall, face coverings have more protective benefits
in keeping germs away from healthy individuals when an infected person is
wearing a mask, not necessarily vice-versa.)
Also, as
you probably know, those dental procedures are often pretty messy—teeth
cleaning, water flossing, and other similar procedures that use high-speed
dental instruments can potentially spray viral particles in greater amounts and
longer distances throughout a dental office and onto the dentists themselves,
only adding to the possibility of infection. Ultimately, "the chances of a
patient being infected by a dentist is much, much lower than a patient
infecting a dentist," says Dr. Dorfman. "The biggest exposure is
going into somebody's mouth. It's the dentist and dental office that is at a
bigger risk."
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