As dental staff in New York and New Jersey get fully vaccinated against COVID-19, some practices are advertising their new protected status in an effort to lure back patients, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Shutdowns at the beginning of the pandemic, higher infection control costs and wary patients have all taken a financial toll on dental offices nationwide.
Many practices in New York and New Jersey have posted photos of staff members getting vaccinated on their social media pages, the WSJ reports.
About 5 percent of New Jersey dental offices have permanently closed, and revenue is down about 30 percent compared to before the pandemic in most practices, Mitchell Weiner, DMD, president of the New Jersey Dental Association, told the WSJ.
"Anything that stimulates more confidence in the public to come back in and resume treatment is good for the economics of the business as well as patients' oral health," Dr. Weiner said. "The infection protocol is the most important ingredient — vaccination is the next ingredient."
Minerva Patel, DDS, a pediatric dentist in New York, said business was strong during the summer but started tapering off last fall amid COVID-19 surges. Now, when a patient calls to cancel or move an appointment, her staff explains that the practice's staff have been vaccinated.
"It doesn't seem to really sway people — if they're uncomfortable, they're not coming in," Dr. Patel told the WSJ.