There are a lot of industries that means professionals have to work closely with customers and patients. This can include everyone from personal trainers to doctors, coming in close contact with a variety of different people each day. The general consensus is that you would expect these professionals to be at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than those that work from home. In particular, studies in the past few years have predicted that Canadian and American dentists were more likely to catch coronavirus from their patients. But, have the predictions come true?
What We Know Now
When the pandemic first started back at the end of 2019, the world did not know a lot about the virus. It was something that was unknown for many months of 2020 and a lot of industries had to shut down until there was science on COVID-19. But, the one thing that everyone thought was that professionals like dentists, who work very closely with patients, would be at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Indeed, this seems like common sense since a dentist is going to be looking in someone’s mouth and not keeping their social distance from them.
However, studies have shown that Canadian and American dentists are actually not as at risk as you would think. In fact, they are less at risk from contracting the virus than the general population. So, why is this the case? Well, this could be because practices are taking so many precautions. Since the start of the pandemic, dentists have been ensuring that their workplace is safe for their team and patients.
The Precautions Dentists are Taking
Going to the dentist now is very different to what you would have experienced just a few years ago. The measures in place at a family dentist based in Kingston are designed to reduce the spread of COVID-19. You are going to be aware that social distancing rules are in place, as well as having to wear a facemask. New layouts are in place within the practice and waiting rooms are designed differently. This is all to minimize risk of the virus spreading. This is something that is going to help everyone.
Dentists themselves are also very protected from the virus. In particular, they are wearing PPE on a daily basis, which is going to provide some protection. This is something that the general public do not do when they are outside of the home. In addition, the precautions are always being assessed in practices and improvements are made all of the time. Staff are all aware of the risk and they know that working with the public can be dangerous. This increased awareness means you are more likely to stick to rules.
Therefore, while there are going to be some dentists that do catch COVID-19, it seems that the risk is lower than first thought when they are in the workplace. They are guarded by PPE, as well as following other precautions when they are working. They are going to have records of all patients and nobody should be attending that knows they have coronavirus. If they do, protocol will kick in to protect everyone and mean that the spread is minimized.
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