20
Jan
3 Biggest Challenges Facing Dental Practices During the Pandemic
Has your dental office faced some challenges since the beginning of the pandemic? Businesses all over the world are struggling at the moment, and dental practices are no exception. In a world where there aren’t enough protective devices to go around and people are less willing (or able) to get medical treatment that isn’t urgent, dentists are in on the struggle.
We understand this has been a challenging time for everyone. While the end is in sight, you need to know how to take care of your dental practice in the meantime.
We want to share a few challenges that dental offices have experienced over the past year and how they’re handling the pandemic. Keep reading to learn more.
Hygiene Practices
Dental practices are some of the cleanest and safest places that you can be during a pandemic. Even pre-COVID, the safety and sanitation measures that these practices take are up to par with hospitals.
That said, there were some changes that needed to be made. Those changes were more difficult because of a lack of supplies due to everyone needing the same things at the same time.
Dental offices needed to get more PPE both for patients and themselves. They’ve always needed medical face masks, but now they need more for staff members and patients who forget theirs at home. They may also use face shields over their masks as added protective measures.
Disinfection in dental offices is already taking place on an extreme scale. However, it became more thorough as offices started to be open for business again. There’s more time between patients so staff could clean the office thoroughly.
Staff and Patient Safety
Aside from providing masks for patients and otherwise unmasked staff, offices also made further changes to protect everyone within the office.
Before patients are able to enter most practices, they get a brief questionnaire and a temperature read to determine if they’re a COVID-19 risk.
Some offices requested that clothing used in the dental offices be left at the workplace rather than taken home to avoid contamination. Staff members also receive extra training in decontamination.
Dental offices are encouraged to avoid non-emergent dental care if the patient is experiencing any symptoms. Even those who are not experiencing symptoms should always wear masks in the building to prevent spread.
Accessibility
Accessibility is one of the largest problems facing dental practices during the pandemic. Early on, procedures that weren’t deemed “necessary” were put off in order for offices to serve emergency situations.
This is because only so many people could be in any given office at a time. Fewer dentists result in fewer patients.
This is a problem for patients from underserved communities. These patients are less likely to take care of dental health in the first place. As a result, they are more in need of preventative care.
To mitigate some of the issues, many practices elected to try telehealth services. Patients could contact their dentists and have consultations to see whether or not a condition was an “emergency.” If not, they suggest pharmacological solutions until the patient is able to do an in-person visit.
