Dentists' panic selling their practices to DSOs, the wave of dental hygienists leaving the workforce and a breakdown in trust between dentists and patients are three ways that dentistry and dental practice operations have been permanently altered by COVID-19.
These eight dentists recently connected with Becker's to discuss the lasting impact that COVID has had on the dental industry.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How have dental practice operations changed since the COVID-19 pandemic?
Chris Baboulas, DDS. Dentist of North Shore Center of Dental Health (Morton Grove, Ill.): Yes, things have changed since COVID. We still have patients swish with Peroxyl prior to starting the visit. We still have our Novaerus ionized air cleaners in our treatment rooms and reception area. We still are using PPE, have gone paperless to avoid cross contamination with charts and keep hand sanitizers everywhere are a few of the things we do.
Mike Davis, DDS. Dentist of Smiles of Sante Fe (Albuquerque, N.M.): Firstly, the nation generally is facing a dental hygienist shortage. Thus, salaries and benefits for the recruitment and retention of hygienists have substantially increased. Simultaneously, insurance payments for all dental services have remained virtually static. That means either: Out-of-network dental providers raise fees to compensate for the elevated overhead expenses, or in-network dental providers keep fees as is determined by the insurance carriers. Dental hygiene services become a loss-leader service, or more likely the quality of care is reduced to match the paltry insurance remunerations.
Lakshay Goyal, DDS. Dentist of Oakland Park (Fla.) Family Dental: Since COVID, the biggest change with staying-power has been the increase in overhead. At my practice, we have yet to see an increase in insurance reimbursement to compensate for this change. For me, this is the thing I worry about the most for private practice dentistry.
Paul Henny, DDS. Dentist of Paul Henny DDS (Roanoke, Va.): COVID-19 triggered a panic selling cycle to DSOs as owner-dentists had no idea what the long-term implications of the pandemic would have on their practice's value going forward. Concurrently, record numbers of hygienists left the profession, with a second wave planning to leave over the next four years.
All of this has led to a massive breakdown in historical dentist-patient and hygienist-patient relationships, the bedrock of practice loyalty, trust, and ultimately patient spending patterns on more elaborate services. Well-trained, and behaviorally astute fee-for-service dentists who understand this meta-trend and who understand the ins and outs of how to run a highly personalized, health-centered comprehensive restorative practice, are having record years with no shortage of patients or team members as they flee the chaos and uncertainty created by the depersonalization of the profession.
A concurrent trend is seen in the significant rise in litigation against dentists, as patients are much more prone to sue a dentist they don't know very well, and who isn't a visible, positive, contributing member of their local community.
Mike Kang, DDS. Dentist of AppleTree Dental (Anaheim, Calif.): Since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, the core practices of dentistry have remained largely consistent, particularly regarding infection control and patient safety. Even before the pandemic, our practice had already adopted universal precaution: a set of rigorous protocols designed to protect both patients and staff from infectious agents. These measures, which include thorough sterilization of instruments, the use of personal protective equipment and strict hygiene practices, have long been standard in dental care.
The pandemic reinforced the importance of these protocols, but it did not fundamentally alter the way we approach patient care. Our longstanding commitment to universal precautions has enabled us to continue providing safe, high-quality dental services without significant changes to our procedures. In essence, while COVID-19 highlighted the necessity of stringent infection control, the principles we have followed for years remain the cornerstone of our practice today.
Michael Perpich, DDS. Dentist at Gentle Dental (Coon Rapids, Minn.): Dental practices have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately for dentistry we have been a leader in infection control practices after the AIDS pandemic in the late 80s. Now we have been able to use teledentistry to screen patients and with the revolution of AI we have been more efficient using less paper and more services online. In addition we have been able to expand roles in the dental team. In Minnesota we have unlicensed DAs get X-ray certification and more dental assistants are able to be sedation certified.
Steven Schneider, DDS. Dentist of Steven Schneider, DDS (San Diego): As a dental consultant, I am in many offices per year. I have noticed that most of them are paying way more attention to protective wear. Many were not masking nor wearing lab coats in the past. As far as patients, the anti-maskers still do not care, but the maskers seem to really appreciate it and have asked for it. Financially the after-COVID boom seems to have calmed back down to the normal pre-COVID pace.
Owen Waldman, DMD. Dentist of Waldman Dental Group (Scottsdale, Ariz.): Since the pandemic, my practice operations haven't changed at all. Universal precautions and a clean, sterile office are all that was ever needed and was all that should have always been the case prior to COVID. Frankly, the dental profession overall did not do right by their patients. People needed care and were turned away.
I had a case, where a patient was hit in the mouth and fractured #9 to the point of the pulp being exposed! This patient was told by two offices that they couldn't even get a consultation since the doctor wasn't coming in. One other office gave her a tele-med conference and said they still wanted to wait a week before the doctor felt comfortable going back to see patients, even though our area was cleared to see emergency patients for months by that time. I saw the patient and fixed the tooth on the same day. We're supposed to be dentists to take care of people and ease their pain.