As all of you that have been reading my blog should know, I work in the dental field. I'm not an assistant or a hygienist, just to be clear. I'm the one who bills your insurance, makes your appointments, and tells you how much your next visit will cost you. Oh, and answers your questions about which insurance to pick during open enrollment, gives you advice on whether or not that bothersome tooth requires an appointment. And calls your insurance for you for details that you could get on your own. Lol.
The hygienists were off for three months, but the rest of us ~ dentists, assistants and front desk staff were still working, although on an abbreviated schedule (8 hours per week instead of 34). When we re-opened to full time, it was a little scary. But as the weeks went by, the routine became.........well, routine. We took temperatures, asked screening questions, that sort of thing. But in the last 3 weeks, we have been getting reports from patients ~ my husband was exposed at work, so we all need to reschedule our appointments, etc. I had one patient exclaim he contracted covid from our office, and when I pointed out to him that he was at our office ONE day before his positive test, he changed his tune a bit. He never even called us to report his positive test. The hygienist spent an hour cleaning his teeth. And the very same hygienist saw a patient that had a positive test this week. So, she had to go and get a rapid test on Monday so that she could be cleared for Tuesday ~ which cost the office $500. Can you believe the cost of that? Gouging much?
Her test was negative.
The point of all of this is ~ we are doing everything we can to make our office safe for you. If you have doubts, ask your dental office what they are doing to keep it safe for you. Everyday we "fog" the office with a salt based acid spray to disinfect the areas we can't reach (the tops of cabinets for example). Every week we have professionals come in and do it for us. We wipe down the door handles, the thermometers, the counter tops all day long. We all wear masks all day long (unless someone can't hear me on the phone, but I put it back on after the call is over). We screen each other every day. We ask patients to cancel if they aren't feeling well. Yesterday I had to catch a patient as she was getting ready to come in and explain that her friend called us to let us know that one of the ladies she had lunch with on Sunday had been exposed, so we need to reschedule her. We added a questions to our screening to include "do you have a pending covid test?" because we discovered one day that a patient had just that, and hadn't received the results yet.
We believe we have seen patients that aren't symptomatic and luckily, due to the measures we have in place, none of us have become sick. Of course, we all hope this continues to work, but our bosses warn us every week to resist the urge of complacency. One misstep and we could be shut down for two weeks.
Be safe out there, be reasonable. Wear your mask and wash those hands often.
Love, 365
This is so scary. We have been having folks with symptoms call us to cancel and for that we are so grateful. Yesterday was one of them. But he hadn't even had the test yet but he was so converned about getting anyone else sick he asked us not to come. That is rare! We too are doing our best. I see a lockdown coming next. Tha financial fear of that is very real for me and I am so concerned but there is nothing I can do. Be safe. Oh when we had guests a few weeks ago after they tested negative we drove into the city. They were shocked that everyone here wears a mask. Yes, it is a highly educated area. They felt comfortable here vs where they live. Now that is sad that everyone just isn't doing the right thing.
ReplyDeleteOur state has mandated masks ~ you could be subjected to a fine for not wearing one. But those folks who don't believe they are necessary ~ that everyone will eventually become sick with Covid no matter what we do ~ skirt the intention of the law (ok, it's not really a law). Remember the guy I wrote about that had one of those formed masks and had cut a slit in it? He told me this way he could have the "appearance" of compliance. This is why people get sick. The scariest part is, many of those people are out there.
DeleteMaybe we will all get sick......eventually, but why have everyone sick in the same month and insufficient health services (and sick health care providers too) to cope? I went to the dentist recently here in Greece and the dentist and assistant were kitted out like Ebola workers. They do all that deep disinfecting too. Let's hope this vaccine is effective even if it needs to be repeated every year like other flu vaccines. It will be interesting to see whether the anti-maskers line up for it.
DeleteI've been to my dentist once since March, have an appointment coming up in December. They told me about all the precautions they're taking and I felt more or less safe. Now I'm starting to get a little more concerned with the huge uptick in cases.
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ReplyDeleteLooks like you're suffering from congenital stupidity.
DeleteWe can hope it's terminal, I suppose.
Ugh, every now and then I get these dumb "replies" that are just a platform for their delusions. Since I don't get very many, I just delete them.
DeleteIf I was a dentist, I would close down my practice until some light was shining from the end of this dreadful tunnel, I would be scared to death of being in such close contact with patients. So well done, your boss, I admire his/her determination; and we all need dentists occasionally.
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