dentist in extremis

[calimac]

I made my first visit to the dentist today, for a regular cleaning, since the virus hit. They'd been closed, delaying my appointment for a month, until they could get the new hygiene protocols in place.

So now what you do is park and phone them. The receptionist comes out, takes your temperature by pointing what looks like a 50s ray gun at your forehead, and then, wearing masks, you go up to the office, opened by her key, because obviously nobody's going in without a staff escort. A quick stop at the hand sanitizer, and it's immediately into the room with the chair. The hygienist, who's been cleaning my teeth for many years, now has a face shield in addition to the mask she's been wearing on the job since the height of AIDS. You take off your own mask at her instruction, and then put it back on as soon as she's done. There's a new and more powerful suction device in the mouth, and there's no polishing afterwards, which I never liked anyways, and no consequent rinsing of the mouth. So the job is a little bit shorter, and I'm out without a fuss. I could hear the dentist in another room discussing root canals with some other patient, but I see nobody but the hygienist and the receptionist.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Neither of us has any dental issues but we're hoping to get back to normal visits soon!

[wild_patience]

Your dentist's office is more strict than mine. Mine still does polishing. Before they seat you in the chair, you have to do a rinse with a combo of mouthwash (I assume) and hydrogen peroxide. I like that they have two jars of pens: one for clean and one for dirty, so when you need to sign something, you take from the clean and return to the dirty.

[bibliofile]

I had contactless checkin and water rinsing plus suction (I can't recall the last time there was spitting instead, though). And a little polishing, at low speeds.

[cynthia1960]

I have postponed my July cleaning to October.