Precautions to be taken on your visit to your dentist during COVID 19 Pandemic
Since the World health organization declared Covid-19 or Corona Virus outbreak pandemic, many countries had gone into lockdown to protect their citizens including India from this rapidly spreading viral disease affecting particularly the lung cells. Now many countries are lifting lockdown slowly and gradually. India is also going towards steps wise lifting of lockdown according specific divided zones. It will be an important aspect on how to protect ourselves after the lockdown has been lifted. Here I am with point wise guide to protect yourself on your visit to the dentist. I am listing the following points in two categories, precautions to be taken by you and precautions to be taken by your dentist.
- Precautions to be taken by the patient
- Do not visit the dentist unless it is an emergency like tooth pain, swelling or uncontrolled bleeding
- Disclose to your dentist on call if you are having symptoms of fever, cold, cough, breathing difficulty or if anyone in the family or friends are experiencing the above symptoms
- Disclose on call any history of international or national travel by you or any member of the family and friends.
- Disclose on call any history of contact with a COVID-19 positive patient.
- Maintain personal hygiene
- Maintain social distancing
- Wear mouth mask at all times when you are going out of the house.
- Before entering the clinic, wear shoe cover, head cap, mouth mask and sanitize your hands with alcohol based sanitizer or wash your hands with soap.
- Precautions to be taken by the Dentist
- Give appointments for emergency cases only including tooth pain, swelling or uncontrolled bleeding
- All appointments to be given prior on call after taking detailed history about (Defer appointment if any of the below is positive)
- Symptoms of fever, cold, cough, breathing difficulty or if anyone in the family or friends are experiencing the above symptoms.
- History of international or national travel by the patient or any member of the family and friends to be taken
- History about any recent contact with a COVID-19 positive patient.
- Make the patient sanitize hands with alcohol based sanitizer or hand wash with soap and wear mouth mask, show cover, head cap before entering the clinic.
- Check the temperature of the patient with Infrared Thermometer before taking to the operatory. In case patient is having fever, the appointment is deferred until the fever subsides.
- Before entering in the operatory, the dentist and the assisting doctor or dental assistant should wear Personal Protective Equipments including the eyewear, N95 mouth mask with three ply mouth mask over that, face shield, shoe cover and Surgical gloves.
- Once the patient and the dentist are in the operatory, the patient is asked to remove the mask and perform mouth wash with betadiene.
- Following mouthwash, set of sterilized instruments should be used on every patient for check up or performing an emergency procedure.
- Once the procedure is over, the patient is asked wear the mouth mask back and leaves the clinic. Used Head cap and shoe cover should be thrown away after exiting the clinic in the bin kept at the exit of the clinic.
- Clinic is sterilized and disinfected after every patient with high quality disinfectant.
- Sterilized PPE has to be worn for every patient.
Above was the detailed step wise guide for precautions to be taken by the patient and the dentist to minimize contact and transmission of COVID-19 or Corona Virus to the doctor, patient and clinic staff. Floss Dental Noida has been following highest standards of sterilization and disinfection protocol since its establishment in 2018 and is ready to treat our patients with the best protective equipments and upgraded disinfection protocol against COVID-19 according to the norms laid down by National and International Dental Boards.
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