Dentaltown May 2020 - 6

howard speaks
column

We've Got This!
In 1820, more than 79% of Americans worked on
farms. Today, the number is less than 2%, which frees
up a lot of people to work in other types of fields-like
dentistry. And epidemiology.
Pandemics have been coming and going for centuries-they're a part of modern life, and because they're
often associated with the domestication of animals,
they're going to forever change how we live with (and
eat) animals. Pandora's box has been opened, and nobody
can put everything back in it.
These pandemics will also forever change how
we treat our patients.

The challenge goes airborne
"Ooooh, that smell-can't you smell that smell?"
Lynyrd Skynyrd wasn't referring to the smell that hits
you when you walk into a dental office, but that line,
at least, registers with anyone who ever has.
The smell often doesn't register to us dentists
anymore. Our olfactory sense doesn't register all of the
odors, only the changes, so we're just
like people who live on Kansas dairy
farms who no longer recognize that
everything there smells like poop.
In our case, though, that smell
is the scent of our rotary instruments-that drill at 35,000 rpm,
whipping saliva into a frenzy. Our
new challenge will be related to that
aerosol. Sure, we've come a long way
since the 1980s-we wear gloves

and masks-but aerosol concerns are going to take
everything a step higher.

It's time to show us what you've got
Right now, everybody's thinking about how
addressing these new problems is going to be difficult
and expensive, but they forget how innovative humans
are. Every dentist on Earth is going to have the same
problem, and least 200 of them are going to have some
phenomenal ideas to help address it. Teens are already
3D printing guards designed to relieve the irritation
that mask cords can wreak upon the ears of health
care workers after never-ending 14-hour shifts.
We are going to come out of this!
I'm sticking to everyone's original
prediction that COVID-19 will
be about a three-month
issue-as long as people
behave like they did
during California's
lockdown. I know
dentists are itching to get
back to work, and it looks like
that's going to happen in June.
That gives you only a few weeks to
figure out your infection control. What
are you going to do about that smell?
I've already seen people start brainstorming
solutions on Dentaltown message boards, which
reminds me of what the site was designed for when we
opened back in March 1999: a bunch of people sharing
ideas and suggestions.
If you've got any ideas, please share them with
your fellow Townies on the COVID-19 forums we've
created, because they could help decide our future. ■

Earn CE credit and learn
more about COVID-19
Dr. Michael Glick's CE course COVID-19:
What You Need to Know will help viewers
understand pandemic growth and be able
to address concerns about COVID-19
transmission. To watch the course and earn
1.5 credits, go to dentaltown.com/ce.

by Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, publisher, Dentaltown magazine

MAY 2020 // dentaltown.com

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4/21/20 11:01 AM

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Dentaltown May 2020

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