"Emergency" Sunday Dental Thread

[PCIntern]

The early chapters of Stephen King's "The Stand"demonstrate accurately how viruses spread throughout a national population.

As a "Health-care Professional", having gone to health-care School, please allow me to say that hand-washing, minimal contact with masses of strangers, and restraint (try not to kiss everyone you meet, don't put your hand near your nose, mouth, or eyes after shaking hands or using a public doorknob or lavatory faucet.

You're probably going to get it anyway, but why have self-recriminations? Likely as not, if this is a pandemic, you and your family are going to be exposed to the viral particles, no matter what mask you wear, no matter how many times you wash your hands, no matter what. Then again, you might get 'lucky'....you have to ask yourself the question, "Do I feel lucky/ Well do you...?

Clint Eastwood aside, I wish everyone here the best. Tomorrow I have 40+ patients to see and more every day thereafter. The odds of me NOT coming into contact with this virus is essentially zero. But it's what I do, and until no one wants to go out in public including going to the dentist, I stand at the ready to do my duty without reservations. The ultra-speed handpiece, rotating at 350000 r.p.m. and spraying aerosolized water into the mouth is a perfect communication mechanism. You couldn't self-infect any better if you were to invent a technique.

I have been doing this for well over 30 years and in the early years of GRID which became known as AIDS, many dentists were concerned that they could infect themselves, their staff, and other patients via aerosol dispersion. Of course that turned out not to be true for AIDS, but it sure is true for the flu.

Take care and be well...

PC

that is all.

[Turbineguy]

Thanks for that view!

I have a dental appointment tomorrow morning...

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Is your office open today? I have this tooth that is bothering me . . .

LOL

[pacalo]

2. And you take care, PCIntern.

(Personally, I was thrilled when dentists began using latex gloves, as many patients as they treat. You never know if someone a dentist has seen is on the verge of getting a cold, virus, or flu.)

[PCIntern]

4. or blood under his/her fingernails from the last patient...

I have a great glove story I'll relate some other day...but today is not one for medical humor...this actually may be very serious...I'm not a little concerned - having had a little experience in virology, this is no hype.

[pacalo]

21. Good to hear it from you. The media is so unreliable in its hype, we never know.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. One other suggestion: carry your own pen

Public use pens at restaurants, in shops and in doctors' offices are much more likely to have viruses and bacteria than doorknobs. The simple solution is to carry your own pen and use it rather than the one provided.

[PCIntern]

6. ...and don't be in a line for a restaurantwith a sick person

and don't allow the cook/chef to be sick and sneeze into your creme brulee or Big Mac...

As I said in the OP, my opinion is, if you're gonna get it, you're gonna get it...that unless you live as a hermit, you're going to be readily exposed...

[GentryDixon]

7. Always use a paper towel or your shirt if need be to open

a restroom door.

[PCIntern]

9. AND TO TURN OFF THE FAUCET!!!

The faucet handle has more fecal material on it than you can imagine..

And none of the candy at the checkout counter...you don't want to know, even if it's wrapped!

[supernova]

11. Lots of places here have sensors

Sensors on the toilet, sensors on the faucet to know when to flush or start/stop water when hands are at the faucet. This is true, even of the State Fair grounds of all things.

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. I like facilities with sensors

Especially the faucets. My workplace has those, and I've gotten so used to them that I will forget at home and try waving my hands in the bathroom sink, waiting for the water.

[PCIntern]

18. it is fun...

sometimes I see if my wedding band will cause the urinal to flush, reflecting the light back...or if it's a motion sneso, then it doesn't work...Beavis and Butthead Do America!

Anjd as far as waving hands, I wear loupes which flip down over my glasses for my work, and when I'm home, I'll absent-mindedly try to flip my regular glasses...my family thinks it's funny!

[GentryDixon]

24. I do not understand how a woman can go into a restroom

and put her purse on the floor next to the toilet. It happens more than I care to see. I'll bet that same purse ends up on the kitchen counter when she gets home.

:crazy:

[supernova]

10. I always open the door to leave with the towel I dry my hands with

Seems many people have mommy issues, and don't wash after the toilet. :puke:

[blogslut]

5. Take care

Be well. Fix teeth. Rock on.

[supernova]

8. Please take care PCIntern

:hug:

It is a scary thing.

I'm one of the ones who has to take antibiotics before dental appts, but with this flu, it won't do diddly.

I really hope we can control it before it becomes a huge problem.

[eleny]

12. It's always good to hear your educated advice

Take care, I sure hope you stay well!

[PCIntern]

14. Thank you all..and to all of you, the same!

This is serious, I do believe.

[Mika]

15. How many patients did you see today?

Lazy rich dentists. Phooey

I got up very early this to go on a long bike ride with a group. Checked my messages at 5:30 this morning. Guess what? You know. Cancelled my bike ride and met a crying patient at 7:30 to try to repair a broken lingual cusp with an exposed nerve #29. No charge. (I'll charge when I do the crown, which this tooth will eventually need.)

Lazy rich dentists. Phooey

:hi:

[PCIntern]

19. Two phone calls and Rx's...

Busy day tomorrow, however...

As I've told you before, I have 70 scheduled hours a week and about 15 hours of work-related activities AT LEAST...and as we have also discussed, things are difficult these days...but this is just between you and me...others get angry when we complain, so don't let anyone else read this!!!

:hi:

[MrPerson]

16. Is it OK to grab boobs?

[PCIntern]

20. One of my creepy male patients did that to my hygienist...

I went in the room and told him if he ever did that again, I would kick him in the nuts so hard, that she would have to clean his teeth around them the next time he came in. He apologized profusely...

i never saw him again, but his GIRLFRIEND still comes in...weird...

[MrPerson]

22. I'll take that as a No.

[Mika]

30. Its a common story.

People do strange things when they pre medicate themselves (scary that they refuse to admit what cocktail combo they are on too).

All dental offices have stories like yours. Ugly stuff. :grouphug:

[JerseygirlCT]

17. Good luck, PC, and thanks for the advice. nt

[Warpy]

23. Keep that mask on, doc

In many years as an RN, I never caught anything from a patient because I could protect myself with handwashing antiviral cleaning solutions, and masks.

Co workers who came to work sick and contaminated keyboards and phones did manage to pass crap along to me.

This thing could likely be a minor problem if nitwits didn't take such obscene pride in working through an illness.

[PCIntern]

26. Of course...

but my contention is that you're gonna get exposed since EVERYONE can be assumed to be a carrier...masks work great for isolated cases, but after I leave the office and get in the elevator with a contagious person who just sneezed into her/his hand 'sort-of' there I am!

[Warpy]

39. Yeah, I know

but you'll have a better chance of dodging it in the office with that mask on.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

36. Nitwits even at medical schools do this.

My BF's former boss came to work sick, and hung over BF and hacked on him. This after the guy had been to the doctor and was TOLD to stay home.

This ass had an Ed.D. and worked at a Medical School!!!!!

BF came home and was sick as a dog for a week. Then I got it. Then my daughter got it. I wish I could wring the bastard's nuts off.

BF STILL uses nasal spray all the time, ever since the Virus from Hell.
That was in 2000 -- NINE YEARS AGO!!! I remember b/c when BF was dead on the couch I had to take my kid to see U2 on the Elevation Tour in 2000.

[Warpy]

38. OK, he's dependent on the nasal spray

Have him pick a side. Tell him to use the spray on that one side only, and try to stretch out the doses. He will be very anxious during this period, tissues swell in response to the drug being withdrawn and it will be harder to breathe. Expect him to be like a bear with a sore head.

Antihistamines can help, especially at night.

Once he's stable medicating one side infrequently, he needs to stretch out the time/decrease the dosage. Instead of a good squirt, make it a half hearted squirt.

He can get off the stuff without medical attention. It is unpleasant but it can be done.

[PCIntern]

41. right you are, Warpy... AND

have you noticed that many people, generally women, are addicted to lip balm? I have people who cannot put the vial away...they hold a little packet with their cell phone, lip balm, and keys; talk on the phone, do their lips, and jangle the keys, all at the same time...

Gets on my last nerve...

[Heidi]

25. What do you think about hand sanitizer?

It's available here, but no one I know uses it. However, my mom (a retired first-grade teacher in the US) swears by it. I bet I wash my hands 50 times a day (before and after touching anything I give to/take from our cat, before and after toilet, before and after eating, before/after using my laptop, art supplies, etc.)

By the way, I'm NOT a clean freak by any means. But I have had only two serious colds since moving to Switzerland a decade ago -- and both of them came immediately after air travel and sleeping in an air-conditioned hotel room.

[PCIntern]

28. Absitively!!!

anything you do is helpful...nothing is foolproof.

[rainbow4321]

27. (cringe) I work in a Texas HIV clinic and I dread going back to work tomorrow

I don't even want to think of this hitting our patient population.

There is a dental office nearby that we refer our patients to, so this ought to be interesting.
We still have people coming in with "flu like symptoms" and testing positive for the flu...except all we do is that rapid swab test, I believe. Will be interesting to see if the higher ups start to check more into our flu-like/flu cases. A large majority of our patients are Mexican, no telling how recently they went back home or have hung around people who have just returned.

[supernova]

29. Bless your heart

:hug:

You're doing a very hard job.

Besides good old fashioned soap and water, is there a way to hang hand sanitizer around your neck?

[rainbow4321]

32. We have the on-the-wall sanitizer despensers everywhere

So I imagine we will draining those suckers drier more quickly than we normally have in the past.
Just read in the local paper that the county health department is not very happy with the CDC response, the county official said they should have been notified sooner.
There are steps being taken here to monitor the bus systems that flow between Texas/the U.S and Mexico--and there are a LOT of those. No one is monitoring the arriving passengers for symptoms with the buses. So the county is stepping up to watch it from that angle and telling the bus operators to sanitize the buses between trips.
Guess time will tell how these precautions work.

[Bluebear]

31. 'I don't even want to think of this hitting our patient population.'

Exactly. that's what makes me so angry about the smug people who write "haha, this is nothing to worry about". Thank you for the work you do.

[Cheap_Trick]

33. Using "The Stand"....

I guess we'll be meeting in Boulder, CO while the wingnuts will be meeting up in Vegas.

[PCIntern]

34. i recall that when the book debuted,

I was given a hardback copy as a birthday present. When I read it, I was somehow unsatisfied, figuring that King's 'The Shining' was going to be the best of his work. when the unabridged version was published, the book made sense and was 'complete' in a literary sense.

The character development in The Stand was about the finest I've ever read in the genre.

The restoration of the chapters which had been cut changed the whole tenor of the book...unbelievable that that could happen to an emerging literary personality such as king. Imagine what must happen to other authors.

I see Sanjay Gupta has flown to Mexico City...that should help matters. He'll be filtering the truth in no time at all...

[Cheap_Trick]

42. I should dig up a copy of the original, just for comparison.

I've only read the expanded edition, as well as listening to the unabridged audio book of the expanded ed. It was around 35 hours. Marvel Comics is currently adapting the expanded edition, taking around 30 or 35 issues (as a series of 5 or six mini-series). They're on issue 2 of the second mini now.

[PCIntern]

43. Yeah...

it's 'missing' among other things: the Kid, the Last Chapter where he's recreated, the opening at the Lab (starts at the gas station I think), and about a million other major and minor issues.

It's a mediocre read...

[MilesColtrane]

35. My dentist and hygienists wear a face mask and a clear, full face shield.

..similar to a plexiglas welder's mask.

You guys DO autoclave everything between patients, don't you?

[PCIntern]

40. We use Lestoil in a bucket....rinse it off too!!

:evilgrin:

JUST KIDDING!!!! Of course we soak in cold sterile, rinse, scrub, place in individual bags, and autoclave...

[alfredo]

37. Good wishes back ah choo