Dental Hygienists Want Dental Offices To Stay Closed For Now

Some dental professionals are asking the governor and mayors across the state to hold off of allowing dental offices to open. They say it’s simply too dangerous.

Gov. Kevin Stitt is allowing dental offices to re-open for non-emergent care May 1.  Dental hygienists say that will lead to an increase in the spread of COVID-19.

“OSHA has determined that dental hygienists are in the very high exposure risk category because we work so close to the patients mouth, and the instruments that we use create aerosols. These contaminated aerosols can then linger in the air for several hours and they can spread 6 to 13 feet in the air," said Laurie Humphrey of the Oklahoma Dental Hygienists Association.

Humphrey said that because COVID-19 can remain on surfaces, every patient that comes in for a routine cleaning will be at risk. She said most dental offices don’t have the personal protective equipment and infection control supplies to keep employees and patients safe.

“When dental offices are allowed to open for non-emergent care, we are going to be competing with other healthcare brothers and sisters who are on the front lines fighting the COVID virus, and those supply chains are already very strained.”

The governor's office said dentists don’t have to open if they don’t want to.

“If they have the ability to have appropriate protective equipment and that they want to go ahead and open that up, that is available for them to open those procedures," said Oklahoma Secretary of Science and Innovation Dr. Kayse Shrum.

“Dental hygienists are eager to go back to work. Dental professionals are eager to go back to work.” Humphrey said, “We want to make decisions based on what are the safest practices.”

The dental hygienists association is also asking dentists to voluntarily keep their offices closed until two weeks after the decline of cases of COVID-19.