MOUNT VERNON — Per an order issued by the Ohio Department of Health effective March 18, all non-essential or elective surgeries and procedures are not to be conducted, which includes dental procedures. According to the order, a non-essential surgery or procedure is one that can be delayed without undue risk to the current or future health of a patient.
The order states that all non-essential procedures that require the use of personal protective equipment should not be conducted in an effort to preserve the already limited supply of sterile gloves, eye protection, masks and gowns.
While the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented for everyone, Dr. Michelle Carpenter, a dentist at Carpenter Dental Group in Mount Vernon, said that dentists have been trained to treat every patient as if they’re already sick.
“We take these precautions everyday. Our protocol is to treat every patient like they have an infectious disease everyday,” Carpenter said. COVID-19, along with many other infectious diseases, is spread through respiratory droplets, and working in the mouths of patients puts dentists at a high risk.
With cases in Knox County potentially on the rise, the question of whether or not COVID-19 positive patients can be treated for dental emergencies needs to be asked, but according to Carpenter it comes down to the dentist’s discretion.
“It’s a case-by-case basis, if they’re in pain, if they’re struggling, we would have to treat them,” Carpenter said.
According to the order issued by Dr. Amy Acton, director of the ODH, for a procedure to be considered it must fall under the following criteria: Threat to the patient’s life if the surgery or procedure is not performed; a threat of permanent dysfunction of an extremity or organ system; risk of metastasis or progression of staging; or risk of rapidly worsening to severe symptoms (time-sensitive).
Other dental groups and offices in the county have either closed for the next two weeks or are only open for emergency procedures. According to a recent press release, Comfort Dental in Mount Vernon will remain open for essential and emergency dental care.
“We are here to handle the public’s dental needs, especially during these uncertain times,” Dr. John DuBois of Comfort Dental in Mount Vernon said in the release. “This will help our hospitals marshal their resources and treat COVID-19 cases by reducing the number of people going to the emergency room for dental pain.”
Robert Burns DDS Family Dentistry in Fredericktown is closed until at least April 13 according to their voicemail message. Centerburg Dental Care closed March 17 for a predicted two weeks per the ODH order, according to the company’s Facebook page. Both offices advise their patients to call if they are experiencing a dental emergency.
