New safety guidelines will delay dentist offices re-opening

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Starting Monday, dental offices around the state will be allowed to re-open.

While many welcomed the news, we found out new safety guidelines mean several dental offices will probably have to wait weeks before re-opening.

For dentist Dr. Jessica McClanahan, this shutdown has almost devastated her practice, Healthy Smiles of the Bluegrass.

“This exceeds anything I could have ever imagined,” says Dr. McClanahan.

Her practice has been closed since the middle of March. She’s had to file for unemployment and furlough employees.

“So there’s been no income for the practice at all which has been hard
as a business owner but we just stay positive and hope that we’re gonna
make it through this,” says McClanahan.

Dr. McClanahan was excited to hear the news she could soon reopen but now, she says it appears it will be more like several weeks before she’s back open for business.

She’ll have to meet safety guidelines set by the Kentucky Board of Dentistry and the Department for Public Health, and that means having the proper equipment.

“June is the earliest foreseeable date for N-95 masks. I know for me my
staff and my office we really want to wear those masks so not only are
we protected but we protect you,” says Dr. McClanahan.

And she says even when dentist offices open back up it won’t look the same.

“Waiting rooms are gonna be basically non-existent. One of the recommendations was patients will wait in the car. Temperatures will be taken as soon as they arrive. One patient at a time will probably be in the dentist chair,” says McClanahan.

She says unlike other non-emergent practices that also
will be opening, she cannot see a patient while they’re wearing a
mask or from six feet away.

“The normal working space is from my eyes to my hands. The patient’s head
is right here so you’re talking maybe about a few inches away,” says McClanahan.

But that’s not even the scariest part.

“Dentistry aerosolizes everyone’s saliva so what that means is when we get in your mouth and we start the drill, we spread particles all into the air. So that’s very scary for an airborne virus,” says Dr. McClanahan.

So to ensure the safety of her and her patients, McClanahan says she’ll take the time she needs to prepare.

“We will be back as soon as we meet those guidelines,” says McClanahan.

To learn more about the dental office, click here.