HARTFORD, Conn. — The topic of whether dental offices should begin offering preventive care services like cleanings continues to create mixed responses.
Some in the industry feel it can put workers at high risk to contract Covid, while some dentists feel they need to get back to taking care of their patients’ needs
Right now the CDC guidelines recommend dentist avoid elective services and perform emergency ones.
“So I have been a hygienist for six years,” Dental Hygenist Meg Zadrowski said.
A job dental hygenist Zadrowski says can put her at a higher risk for contracting Covid because of the contact she has with dental patients.
“Our jobs is to see patients for preventive care for cleanings, we don’t need to be there right now,” Zadrowski said.
Over the week, Zadrowksi kick started an email campaign expressing concerns she and other hygienists have with bringing back routine cleanings.
Dentist Renee Kurtz, who owns a practice in Cheshire, says dental offices like hers have always practiced the most stringent infection control protocols
“We always had protocol in place and now we have a lot of extra protocol in place and I’m comfortable with that,” Kurtz said.
Since the pandemic started Kurtz has only been seeing patients with emergencies and plans to slowly begin reopening in June once she has Personal protective equipment and safety protocols ready to go.
“Everybody is trying to figure out what the priorities are,” Interim Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs at UConn School of Dentistry Jacqueline Duncan said.
That’s because Duncan says when it comes to routine visits there is no one size fits all.
“Someone who is healthy and has no risk factors yes that can be postponed,” On the other hand, Duncan added, “there are certain patients that need to be seen four times a year because of their oral health status,”
She says the more risks a patient has the more urgent their need to visit their dentist office may be and that is to be determined by their dentist.
As far as what would make Zadrowski more comfortable to go back to doing cleanings, she says getting more clear mandates on workers being protected, proper PPE and a better way for offices to manage aerosols.
“We create aerosols no matter what we do. People’s mouths are open if they cough, dental drills, our instruments, it is not under control right now. There needs to be something in place to confidently say we are able to manage the aerosols.
For Renee Kurtz she says she will start off with just herself and two assistants and gage the demand and patient needs as they come for when to bing back her hygienists.