Saluting Our Dental Professionals
Dentists bounce back from
COVID-related closures
Brooklyn dentists are adapting to the COVID-19 era. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels
Caribbean Life, August 7, 2020 17
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
When the coronavirus
pandemic ravaged the Five
Boroughs in March, dentists
offi ces were largely shut
down for all but emergency
treatments. Now, as the city
gradually reopens, dental
practices are starting to get
back to business — but under
stricter health and safety
guidelines.
Williamsburg dentist Dr.
Lilya Horowitz of Domino
Dental was one of many practices
that had to quickly adapt
to the new reality of the virus
in the spring.
“It all happened very fast,
in like a three-day period,”
she said.
While practices were still
allowed to take emergency visits
and perform urgent care
during the closures, Horowitz
decided to completely put
her S. Fourth Street offi ce
on pause because she runs a
smaller operation.
“I don’t have a lot of patients
that are walking
around with emergency issues,
so I didn’t anticipate a
lot of emergency calls,” she
said. “Because of that, we decided
to close to see what the
guidelines were going to be.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowed
dentists to reopen on
June 1, making the business
one of the last health care services
to get the green light.
Due to the nature of their
work, dentists are exposed to
a lot of aerosols (tiny respiratory
droplets that are a major
factor in spreading the coronavirus),
so the tooth doctors
have to take extra care to reopen.
According to New York
State guidelines, that includes
allowing for social distancing
and avoiding crowding,
especially indoors, as
well as screening patients,
upping the amount of personal
protective equipment,
and implementing rigorous
cleaning and disinfectant
protocols.
PPE is nothing new for
dentists, who have had to
routinely wear much of the
protective gear for most
procedures well before the
COVID-19 pandemic, according
to one Midwood dentist.
“We’ve always worn
masks, gowns and shields,”
said Dr. Joseph Lichter who
runs a practice on Avenue P.
“This is not new stuff for us,
we’re just tightening our protocols.”
Dr. Lichter was still seeing
patients twice a week for
emergencies during the shutdown,
but has since reopened
with more protective gear
and equipment to keep the offi
ces clean, such as air purifi -
ers and ultraviolet light.
Dr. Horowitz has instituted
similar measures, and
added protocols like doing all
the paperwork digitally, taking
patients’ temperatures
with touchless thermometers,
as well as offering them a disinfectant
rinse when they arrive.
For all new patients, she
conducts a 10-minute virtual
visit to go over their paperwork
and get to know them,
thereby cutting down on the
time people have to spend in
the offi ces in person.
“It just makes it a bit easier
to get through that before
they even come to the offi ce,”
Dr. Horowitz said.
Several of her patients
have left town during the
viral outbreak, but she said
that she’s starting to make
up the loss of patients with
newcomers too.
For Dr. Lichter, while patients
are returning, his offi
ce remains short-staffed.
The southern Brooklyn
dental professional remains
confi dent that his business
will bounce back from the
pandemic closures, with
their increased health and
safety guidance.
“I feel very optimistic because
we’re doing what we
normally do, now we’re doing
it even better,” he said.
“Everyone needs to go to the
dentist at some point.”
Some might be hesitant to
get their teeth treated, even
as infection rates for the virus
have slowed down signifi -
cantly in the city. Dr. Horowitz
says it’s all about doing
your research to make sure
your dentist is adhering to
state guidelines.
“I defi nitely understand
the fear,” she said. “But if
you’re going somewhere
that’s doing all the protocols
and doesn’t have a lot of people
in the offi ces at the same
time, I think it’s very safe.”