We are living in history these days. I miss going to a coffee shop, reading a good book and planning for future. Now I’m sitting in my living room with news about the virus all day long, thinking about how our lives have changed drastically in just a few weeks. Only 3 weeks ago I was having a short vacation in Colorado, a bit concerned about the new situation, got excited about moving into my new apartment “very close to work”. Two weeks moving in, now I’m jobless. I don’t know where you are right now reading this – USA, Vietnam, or Trinidad and Tobago (yea I was amazed looking at 43 countries on the visitor list) – I wish all of you good health and a great time with family.
A brief check on dentistry in the US. I’ve joined several dentists’ groups on facebook: Dental Nachos, Dental Hacks, The business of Dentistry, etc and all of them are calling dentists to stop working for a while. There are a couple of reasons.
First of all, we create lots of aerosols using handpieces and cavitrons. If one of our patients contract the virus without symptom (incubation period), we will breathe in that virus air in close proximity. WHO says that the virus can linger for 4 hours in the air so the risk of having staff members or other patients breathing in the virus is there. The government issued “social distancing” to reduce of risk of public exposure and we are certainly closer to people’s mouth than 6fts. Therefore, closing dental clinics or limiting to emergencies only is to protect dentists, staff, the community and to stop the spreading.
Secondly, closing clinics will help to reduce the number of PPE we need so our medical colleagues will have more PPE to use. We – dentist and 1 dental assistant - use at least 2 masks, 2 pairs of gloves for each patient (most of the time we use more than that). If the office takes only private insurance, we will see 10 patients a day on average so we will use at least 20 masks, 20 pairs of gloves a day while our medical doctors, nurses and staff have only 1 mask a day each person or even reuse them the next day. If the office also takes Medicaid, the average will be 25-30 patients a day!
Finally, you may not worry too much about your staff and you consider yourself as a young, healthy person so you will not be affected too much even if you have the virus. The thing is, even young people can be hospitalized. One may not die because of the virus but one will die because of the lack of ventilator. If all the young healthy people go out and about like their normal routine, there will not be enough ventilators for everyone. In Italy, some hospitals have to choose to treat young people and let people from 80 years old and above staying at home waiting to die. You are selfish if you let someone else die so you can have a normal daily routine. Let’s say that you have mild symptoms or even no symptom so you don’t need a ventilator. You can still pass the virus to your loved ones – spouse, children, parents, grandparents – who may not be as healthy as you.
I have read on the internet that this is just a game of social media trying to create fear and make a profit from it. Well, I would rather be overreacting than underreacting and regretting it. I have read all the reasons why dentists still open their clinics with a normal schedule – fillings, crown preps, SRPs and to be honest, I don’t care. I decide for myself what the right thing to do is, and just because someone else does it differently doesn’t mean I will too. There is so much unknown about the situation. It can be the biggest flob ever, who knows! Maybe by the end of the year, it turns out this virus is nothing (let’s hope so). I would say the right thing to do now is be cautious but not panic, do not hoard all food and supply, call friends and family, look inside yourself and learn to live simply.
Meanwhile, if you decide to stay at home for the sake of the community, we can all use this time to learn more about ourselves, finish an overdue project, read a book that we always want to read, find a new hobby, etc. Here is a list of books that are recommended by dentistry gurus that I want to finish (and maybe you can try too):
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win (New Edition)
Profit first: Transform your business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine
The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goal
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspires Everyone To Take Action