Is it safe to go back to the dentist? Tacoma practitioners say yes, even as fears remain
On Monday, when noon rolled around and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s restrictions on non-urgent medical procedures expired, Vince Kokich Jr.’s orthodontics office was ready to go.
It was back to business for Kokich, his practice partner Chad Smart and their colleagues, with a number of new safety twists in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Patients stayed in their cars outside Kokich’s Smart Orthodontics Group office on South Union Avenue, waiting for a call or text message to let them know it was time to be seen. Once inside, they were screened for potential COVID-19 symptoms, including a temperature check. Before leaving, they were checked again.
That was just the start.
Kokich has been an orthodontist in Tacoma and Gig Harbor for the last two decades. Beyond the South Sound — where he followed his well-known father into orthodontics — Kokich has made a name for himself in the field, serving as an affiliate assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Dentistry and regularly lecturing around the world.
The last two months, Kokich said, have been one of the most challenging experiences of his career.
While he understands the decision to shut down dental offices across the state in March, it hasn’t been easy, Kokich said.
“Initially, we thought it was going to be for a couple of weeks. This quickly turned into something far more significant — which was a big stress on all dental and orthodontic practices in the state,” Kokich said Tuesday, his office’s first full day back on the job after Inslee’s Monday press conference detailing the new guidelines for restarting non-urgent medical procedures.
“It was a big adjustment for all of us,” Kokich explained of the shutdown, which he said resulted in “most of our team” being temporarily laid off.
Kokich’s sentiments and experiences are shared by many area dentists. The pandemic quickly forced them to transition from what they know — seeing patients every day — to navigating new, unfamiliar challenges, like applying for state and federal business relief programs and making sure laid-off employees are able to access unemployment benefits.
Now, as dental offices across the state reopen for non-urgent treatments like cleanings and routine check ups, dentists and orthodontists are left to adapt again.
This time, the challenge is instituting the coronavirus-related public health guidelines issued by the governor’s office as well as guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and the American Dental Association — a process many said they have been preparing for over the last two months.
According to Inslee’s proclimation related to non-urgent medical and dental procedures, dentists will be required to provide appropriate personal protective equipment for employees, institute social distancing and “strong hygiene measures” in their offices, screen patients and visitors for symptoms and “use their clinical judgment for what is considered necessary, using telemedicine when appropriate.”
According to Inslee’s statement, “each medical or dental practice will assess their own readiness and their communities’ COVID-19 activity to determine whether, and to what degree, they will reopen.”
At Union Avenue Dental Center, Sonia Pal said she has spent the last two months trying to wade through an unprecedented health crisis while keeping her private practice afloat.
Adhering to the new regulations, Pal said, will likely be simple by comparison — largely because preventing the spread of disease is something dentists do even in normal times.
That’s not to say fear and anxiety don’t exist.
Pal said she expects some patients to be “very apprehensive and nervous,” and she knows her staff has its own concerns about the potential spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.
One of her hygienists, she noted, has decided not to return to work yet.
As The Seattle Times has reported, some Puget Sound hygienists have worried about “the possibility that the virus can spread through aerosols, tiny airborne particles produced during nearly any type of dental procedure” — though research on the subject is still lacking.
“At the end of the day, we have to start moving forward, so this is our step forward,” Pal said, explaining her office would do everything possible to keep patients and staff safe.
Kokich, like others interviewed by The News Tribune, stressed that preventing the spread of disease and infection control is something dentists and orthodontists are accustomed to.
Now, he trusts his office is up to the additional challenge.
In addition to the general guidelines issued by the state, Kokich said his office has installed sneeze guards and barriers at the front desk as well as in exam rooms and between treatment chairs.
Kokich said staff also will be provided with N95 and KN95 masks for any procedure that would create an aerosol, while patients will be required to use a peroxide based mouth wash to lower the oral bacteria level prior to receiving dental work.
“I believe it was safe before, but you could say it’s even safer now because of some of the additional protocols,” Kokich said. “All of the extra things that we’re doing are just augmenting the procedures that we already had in place.”
“It’s a bit different and could ultimately be our new normal, but when it comes to infection control we can never be too safe,” Kokich added.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 5:05 AM.
