Confusion Surrounds Reopening For Dentists After Stay-At-Home Order Lifted
DENVER (CBS4)- Friday was filled with confusion for many business operators as their plans to finally reopen were postponed by new local orders and mandates from the State of Colorado. The field of dentistry has particularly unique issues it must address in order to keep employees and patients safe.
"Like everybody we're just learning as we go," said Dr. Jeff Kahl, a pediatric dentist in Colorado Springs and the President of the Colorado Dental Association. "It's not a return to pre-COVID practice. The virus isn't going to go away on April 27 or May 1 or June 1, it's still going to be something to deal with."
Dr. Kahl says he and the CDA have been talking with Governor Jared Polis about what dental offices will look like when they're allowed to reopen. Many have still been conducting emergency business, but a greater reopening is hard for some offices.
"We don't have enough PPE to open in a meaningful way, yet. We are still seeing urgent patients but we're waiting, like a lot of people, for the supply chain to open back up," Dr. Kahl said.
Many dentist offices kept a limited supply of equipment and then donated the rest to help frontline health workers.
"The things that they needed, N95 masks and level 3 surgical masks are the same things that we need now as we transition to open up," he said.
Some offices have enough PPE to have potentially reopened, but now a mandate from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies has been added with some local orders that have put off dental offices opening back up.
There's also concern among many about how the virus is spread and how dental work makes it even easier.
RELATED: Latest Updates On The Coronavirus Outbreak In Colorado
"There's a lot of water and that water gets aerosolized. and when you're dealing with an infectious agent like COVID-19 that is airborne, the infection control protocols are a lot different than a lot of other infection agents we've had to deal with to this point," Dr. Kahl said. "We really have to treat everybody as if they're an asymptomatic carrier of COVID 19. So the dental environment has to adjust itself accordingly."
When offices reopen they'll likely have to emphasize social distancing with reduced staffs. Virtual waiting rooms could keep patients in their car until a chair is ready for them, and appointments might be more staggered.
By and large, we're all small business owners. I think we want to get back to a place where we can support our employees, where we can keep the lights turned on," Dr. Kahl said.
New orders from the state are expected in the next few days and will have a lasting impact.
"The groundwork we do now is probably going to impact the industry, how we operate, what the economics for small businesses looks like, more than anything else we do," Dr. Kahl said. "That executive order is what we're going to be practicing under for not just another 5 weeks but several months until this clears up."
About The Colorado Stay-At-Home Order
Colorado's stay-at-home order amid the coronavirus outbreak went into effect on the morning of March 26 and it is currently set to expire on April 26.
