Despite Dental Practice closures across the nation during the Coronavirus Pandemic, Practitioners are choosing to upgrade their operations by conducting major sanitation and maintenance enhancements.
In March 2020, the American Dental Association advised practitioners across the nation to continue to offer emergency-based care to their patients; however, it was advised that non-essential services and procedures be cancelled.
As time marched on and the coronavirus began spreading at immensely rapid rates and high levels of death started to occur, many practitioners started reducing their hours.
Today, many practices have shut down completely.
If you are part of such a practice, it is important to understand that you may enhance your operations by sanitizing, making necessary repairs, and even rebuilding equipment, if necessary. Continue reading to find out how.
Sanitation in Your Practice
Even before closing your practice, it is quite likely that you started following new or enhanced practices when it came to cleaning your facility. What has been discovered since the earliest breakout of the illness is that the COVID-19 coronavirus is an enveloped virus.
This means, it is relatively easy to kill if you utilize the appropriate type of disinfectant cleaning product. Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency has a list of surface cleaners that should be evaluated by all dental practitioners.
The items on this list have been deemed as an acceptable means of killing the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The following outlines a few of these products:
- Benefect Botanical Daily Cleaner Disinfectant Spray by Cleanwell LLC
- Peroxy HDOX by Earth Laboratories, INC.
- Synergize by Preserve International
- Sani-Cide EX3 (10X) RTU by Celeste Industries Corp
- Dispatch by Clorox Professional Products Company
To successfully sanitize your facility, you should purchase and utilize one of the disinfectant products outlined on the EPA’s list of approved cleaners.
All surfaces – including counters, patient chairs, dental chairs, lights, switches, and walls – should be thoroughly cleaned with the product.
In addition to this, you may choose to implement UV lighting as these are productive in killing off germs. Combinations of hot water and bleach are also considered to be effective cleansing agents for dental practices.
Necessary Repairs
As you work through sanitizing your dental practice, it is the time to perform necessary repairs. For the purpose and intent of this article, we will focus on dental instrument repairs.
Given the fact that many dental equipment warehouses are closed to business, it may be difficult to perform in-house repairs due to the inability to purchase and/or receive merchandise such as dental chairs, new lighting systems, and similar items; however, it is still possible to have dental instrument repairs performed.
One main area of focus should be your dental handpieces. These instruments are necessary for nearly all procedures performed in a dental practice.
By having all of your instruments repaired now, you can ensure your practice is ready for patients when the doors open again.
Rebuild
In addition to repairs, you may discover that many of your instruments are in need of being rebuilt. This is much cheaper than having items completely replaced.
You should sort through your inventory and determine if there are products that may be reconstructed and repurposed.
Given the financial strain of the closure you are experiencing, this is a much more cost-effective solution than completely purchasing new items. Upon inspection, you may be pleasantly surprised to discover that you have quite a few tools that may be successfully rebuilt.
We Can Help
We here at Hughes Dental know and understand the financial strain and hardship you are experiencing amid the coronavirus pandemic. While we, too, have cut back on our staffing, we are available to help in the process of repairing and/or rebuilding your dental handpieces.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we will continue to operate and will closely follow all rules, regulations, and restrictions issued by the Centers for Disease Control to protect your merchandise, our team, and our customers. Our goal is a 24-hour turnaround; however, in some instances, the completion time may be slightly longer.
We know and understand that not all facilities will have personnel available to receive repaired, rebuilt, or new products. We are completely willing to accommodate any shipping requirements that you may have during this challenging time.
If you are ready to make this time a productive one for your practice and are ready to take the steps necessary to enhance operations for when your patients arrive following this outbreak, let us help.
If you have any questions or would simply like to learn more, you may contact us today by calling: 1-800-773-0800
