Dr. Allen Nazeri outlines how dental practices should respond to coronavirus concerns: use high-quality PPE consistently, do weekly spore testing for sterilization, screen patients for respiratory symptoms and take temperatures, and disinfect surfaces with diluted sodium hypochlorite.
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Good Morning, this is Dr. Allen. I had a question coming in from one of my clients in Hong Kong regarding the coronavirus that some of their team members are not showing up to work and patients are canceling and what they should do. Well, actually this is the second time I have this question come up. So I'm going to actually do a video because I'm sure there are many other dentists that are concerned about this issue. The number one thing that you need to make sure your team and your patients understand is that you follow the universal precaution guidelines. And what that basically means is that you treat everyone that comes to the office as if they're already infected with some sort of virus or bacterial infection.
Because many times we don't know who is infected and who's not infected. So. So whether it's coronavirus or it's HIV or tuberculosis or mers, it doesn't matter. We need to follow the universal precaution guidelines. And this is why your team needs to understand this is why they're wearing the masks, the gloves hopefully and other things. And then doing the proper sterilization procedure in the office is because we don't know who is actually infected. Now corona virus, I understand there's a 14 day incubation phase just like many other bacterial, viral infections that is possible. So people can come in and you don't even know. So you really need to make sure that you are following the universal precaution guidelines. So let me go through that with you. Number one is obviously having some sort of a, you know, disposable gown or jacket that you wear and you leave at the office and it's washed at the office. I don't like it when I see doctors having a jacket. They go out, eat lunch with it or they put it in their car, take it home, wash it with their kids clothes and so forth. So that's a no, no. Wearing high quality.
Basically gloves and masks are important because many times I see dentists, they try to be price sensitive. Sensitive and not to spend a lot of money on high quality stuff and that can really increase the risk of your exposure to various type of diseases. Wearing glasses and goggles are important for you and the patient. Also the fact that you, you know, if you want to use a face shield, it's fine. You certainly can because you know, we have a lot of aerosols, you know, throughout day.
Washing your hands throughout the day before, after seeing the patient between the procedures, if you have to take your gloves off, go, you know, let's say Do a denture adjustment or something in the laboratory and so forth. Just wash your hands multiple times. Have alcohol gels, those disinfecting gels available throughout your office so both you and your patients can use it.
And regarding the sterilization process is you follow the exact sterilization guidelines that you have always been doing. Hopefully you have a good working sterilization machine which you are doing your sport testing on a weekly basis. Okay. So, you know, it's working. It's. You're monitoring it. Well, that's very important.
Following the cold disinfection, you know.
Guidelines, you know, which. The. One of the best ones are sodium hypochlorite, that is diluted. But you certainly want to make sure that any surface you put it on, you test it first so it does not, you know, take the color off or anything like that. So I would not use it on your dental chair or fabric when I'm talking about your countertops and so forth. There are many different types of disinfectant that are used on the dental chair. Having, you know, barriers such as, you know, plastic wraps on your, you know, your dental chair, on your.
You know, light handles and so forth. Those are all different things that you certainly can do to prevent the infection within your office. And I think what's important is to be doing this all the time, obviously, but make sure your patients understand it. So if the patients call you and they're worried about the coronavirus coming to the office, you can basically have a script and assure them, like something like this, you know. Mrs. Sue, I understand your concern. Actually, our office has been concerned about.
You know, cross contamination infection all along, since we opened our practice five years ago. This is why we follow the universal precaution. And that means, you know, we treat everyone as if they're already infected. So.
This is really all you really can do. And by assuring the patients that, you know, you should be able to win their trust and confidence back. Obviously, if you have a new patient coming in, you. You want to ask some questions to qualify them. For example, if they have had any sort of a respiratory infection or cold or fever, you know, within the past, you know, two weeks, when they come into the office, it's not a bad idea to take their temperature. As a matter of fact, if you are a JCI certified clinic, that is part of the requirement of the JCI that you have to take your vitals in, including the body temperature and so forth. But using common sense is the best thing. By following the universal precaution guidelines, I hope you find this video of value to you. If you do, please subscribe and comment below on some of the things I may have forgotten to include in this that you may already be doing.
And I wish everyone.
You know good health, especially people State of Wuhan in China and I am very confident that the CDC in China as well as the American CDC and American governments are doing anything they can to stop the spread of the disease. Okay, I hope to see you guys on in one of my future workshop classes about for now, any questions, comments, please make sure you send it over. Thank you so much. Bye.
