Dental offices across Pennsylvania are donating their supplies to front-line providers who are treating patients with COVID-19, according to FOX43.
“Dentists offices aren’t thinking of their bottom line right now. Their bottom line is not measured in dollars. It’s measured in people,” Michael Verber, DDS, CEO and president of Verber Dental Group, told FOX43.
Dr. Verber and many other dentists in the state are following the American Dental Association’s recommendation that practices close with the exception of emergency dental care. However, in Pennsylvania the health department is requiring practices to have negative pressure surgical suites to provide emergency care. This has forced many practices to suspend all operations.
David Ross, DDS, a dentist in Harrisburg doesn’t have a negative pressure surgical room. Instead, he is consulting with patients via text message, Zoom and other virtual platforms.
“We have a lot of different technology at our disposal that’s allowing us to communicate with our patients constantly,” Dr. Ross told FOX43. “We are actually in the process of working out all of the kinks for going completely virtual for some appointments.”