Your trip to the dentist is about to get more painful -- but not for the reason you might think

[littlemissmartypants]

Dispatches from a Pandemic
‘It’s really the Wild West out there.’ Your trip to the dentist is about to get more painful — but not for the reason you might think
Published: May 13, 2020 at 4:19 p.m. ET
By Elisabeth Buchwald

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-really-the-wild-west-out-there-your-trip-to-the-dentist-is-about-to-get-more-painful-but-not-for-the-reason-you-might-think-2020-05-12

One dentist has spent nearly $35,000 on disinfectant equipment, including oral high-speed aerosol evacuation units, ozone generators and ultraviolet lights

Before coronavirus, dentists were not required to wear N95 masks. MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty Images

Dentists will likely be feeling the pain too during your next visit.

After losing over a month’s worth of revenue following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide only emergency services, dentists are eager to see their patients again.

But doing so comes at a hefty cost.

To lure patients back and ensure his own safety as well as his staff’s, Anthony Ceccacci, a dentist and owner of Madison Avenue Smiles, a New York City-based dental practice, said he’s gone on a financial limb with scant guidance from health authorities.

For $85, he’s offering finger-stick antibody tests. He’s also asking all of his patients to rinse their mouths with iodine prior to being seen.

More at the link.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-really-the-wild-west-out-there-your-trip-to-the-dentist-is-about-to-get-more-painful-but-not-for-the-reason-you-might-think-2020-05-12

❤lmsp

[sheshe2]

1. ...

Supposedly I have a cleaning at the end of this month....not sure I wish to go yet.

[slumcamper]

2. I understand. My appointment is TOMORROW at 8 a.m.

This is a reschedule from the one I canceled in mid-March. So I'm overdue. I inquired about rescheduling again but the soonest they can get me in is mid-JULY.

After a full day of consideration I decided to risk my life.

What in the living hell??!! I survived a ruptured subarachnoid aneurysm of the right-frontal lobe in 2003, 9 hours of surgery, and 24 days in hospital recovery; perhaps my luck will prevail, but if not, it will prove that I should have followed my intuition.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. I know exactly how you are feeling.

My orthodontist and dentist will need to make some major changes before I cross their thresholds again.

Unfortunately, I have to pay for my orthodontia whether I go or not and I have popped a wire which means I have some funky movement going on which is totally unintended and has moved teeth in directions that hurt.

I am not sure if I will ever go back.

Stay strong, sheshe2.

❤ lmsp

[sheshe2]

4. You as well, lmsp.

[hibbing]

5. I went last week

I was surprised they did not reschedule. I had to call when I arrived, fill out a form about any symptoms, travel questionnaire, and my temperature taken before being led into the office. The hygienist had an N95 mask on and the dentist was a bit more decked out. I must have looked terrified because the hygienist asked me three times if I was okay before starting. It was a routine cleaning.

It has always been a very clean looking place. It still stinks taking such a risk.

Peace