The Coronavirus pandemic has forced many non essential businesses to close or operate differently.
Our Morgan Koziar spoke with some local dentists about how this virus has impacted their profession. The next time you go to your dentist…things might look a little bit different for you.
Right now, you can only see the dentist if you have a dental emergency. Many offices are thinking of ways they can reduce potential contamination when visiting the practice.
You could expect to have to wait in your car until your appointment, get your temperature taken, or be asked a series of questions before entering the office. You might even see more protective barriers between you and the staff.

We spoke with Adam Goddard, he’s a doctor and owner of Altoona Center for Oral and Maxiofacial surgery, he says that for many dentists hearing the news that they’re considered as a non-essential business came as a surprise, “oral health is important in a number of ways, there can be issues that are related to the body and oral health that can affect the body in the systemic fashion, um it can be anything from periodontal disease to abscess formation to affecting someone’s nutritional intake so it’s important to have that addressed as we look at treating the body as a whole.”

Dr. Goddard says since May 8th the state has allowed practices to operate under elective care–
meaning they can treat patients with certain conditions that would be detrimental to their health.

We spoke with Maria Lopez, she’s a general practitioner at Hollidaysburg family dental, she says that the biggest challenge with this virus is not having enough access to personal protective equipment – which is essential when working in the mouth, “this pandemic has brought on a lot of significant changes in dentistry and in saying that i think the main reason is because this virus is so fluid, um it’s so contagious and it can be, it’s very dangerous.” Maria says the facility is considering adding aerosol vacuums to each dental station as a way to reduce contaminants in the air from each patient. They’re waiting costly machines, and she says for now they’re waiting from more direction from OSHEA and the CDC.