We hope you are all staying healthy and have stayed out of the hospital during these crazy times. Many people are staying home and delaying medical appointments for fear of contacting the Covid-19 virus. Sometimes this is a good idea, but usually it is a bad idea. If the medical appointment is one that will keep you healthy or make you healthier you could be better off keeping that appointment. As you have likely heard, while most people who contact Covid-19 have little to no symptoms and get over it quickly, those with underlying health issues are the ones who have severe and sometimes deadly cases. All health issues cause elevated inflammatory levels in the body and put stress on your immune system, preventing it from working correctly to allow your body to fight off viruses naturally.
Inflamed or bleeding gums (periodontal disease), infections in the teeth or gums, and decaying teeth can all cause elevated inflamed levels in the blood stream and compromise your body’s natural immune system. The same can be said about other medical conditions that are not monitored and kept in check (diabetes, COPD, etc). Please consider the pros and cons before delaying your appointments. Properly handling dental and medical situations will boost your immune system and prevent you from being infected, or at least lessen the severity of the Covid-19 virus should you be exposed to it. If you are undergoing cancer treatments, have an autoimmune disease, or are on an organ transplant list you should contact your PCP or medical specialist to ask if it would be beneficial to go to your dental and other medical appointments. Your physician should be able to tell you more about what is best for you based on your individual situation.
Dental offices have used the highest precautions in protecting your health and preventing the transmission of diseases for decades. We have taken extra steps in our office by screening every patient before they come to our office regarding their Covid risk factors, taking the temperature and checking blood oxygen saturation levels of every person (staff, patients, and guests) at the door before they are allowed to proceed, and disinfecting all surfaces, rooms, pens, door handles, etc continually during the day. If you would like to stay in your car until it is time to go back for your appointment you can call us when you arrive and we will let you know when it is time to come inside and take you back right away. Besides using the highest levels of sterilization in our rooms and with our instruments, all patients are asked to rinse with ozonated water before beginning their dental work, and fresh ozonated water is put into the water systems in each room at the beginning of the appointments. This provides constant disinfection of the mouth before and during all dental work, and diminishes the chances of infectious splatter. Even our blood pressure cuffs are disinfected with UV light. We are doing all we can to make this the safest environment you could come to.
The best thing you can do to protect yourself from a virus is to keep your immune system healthy. If you have other questions, please call.
Have a great day!
