SARASOTA – “Before the patients even come in were doing a phone screening of them, we have like a list of questions we ask them, like if they have had contact with anyone who’s had the virus or if they’ve had a fever over 100.4 degrees if they answer yes to any of those questions, then we don’t want to see them at this time,” said Bay Area Dentist, Dr. Nicholas Letteri.
Dr. Letteri says once patients come in, they are asked to fill out paperwork in their cars to help practice social distancing
“Bring it in and go back and wait in their car, so we’re not having a waiting room full of people,” said Dr. Letteri.
The American Dental Association recommends dentist nationwide postpone elective procedures
“Anything like your six-month cleanings or if someone has a small cavity that’s NOT hurting, and they need a filling we’re trying to postpone those things,” said Dr. Letteri.
Dr. Letteri says he usually sees around 30 patients a day, but due to coronavirus the number has decreased
“Like this morning I saw nine patients,“ said Dr. Letteri. “We’ve really kind of cut down a lot on strictly what needs to come in.”
With students on spring vacation, Dr. Letteri urges young students to hold off on non-urgent appointments…
“Now that they’re off and they want their wisdom teeth out, they want all their dental work done that they hadn’t done while they were in college, it’s just not worth it,” said Dr. Letteri.
And as far as sanitizing procedures…
“We have hand sanitizer available within pretty much every six feet in this office, as soon as patients come in we encourage them to use hand sanitizer, we’re having them rinse with hydrogen peroxide,” said Dr. Letteri. “Wiping computers down frequently, at the end of the day we go back and wipe down everything very thoroughly”
“So we’ve really gone above and beyond to really clean everything much more frequently,” said Dr. Letteri.