Saluting Our Dental Professionals
Brooklyn dentists bounce back
from COVID-related closures
Dr Lilya Horowitz of Domino Dental in Williamsburg. Studio 8e8
COURIER LIFE, AUGUST 7-13, 2020 13
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 insti