Dentist offices readjust to new rules

Dentist offices closed down on St. Patrick's Day and were closed for nearly two months until Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds gave them the go-ahead to reopen on May 8.

Marty Gleason, co-owner of Fairfield Dental Clinic in Fairfield, said he and his staff weren't quite ready to open then. They needed a few days to rehearse the new procedures before opening their doors to the public. Their first day seeing customers was May 11, and Gleason referred to that as a 'slow” opening.

'We didn't want to rush ourselves into doing anything uncomfortable for us or our patients,” Gleason said.

The biggest change that Fairfield Dental Clinic and other dentist offices around the state have seen is no more waiting rooms, a ploy to keep patients from congregating too close. Instead, they are asked to wait in their cars until a staffer calls them or comes to get them. The office administrator asks them a host of screening questions to make sure they don't have COVID-19 or a fever, since patients with either will not be seen.

The dentists themselves are dressed in protective gear from head to toe, namely with masks and face shields. Gleason said the staff are dressed like 'spacemen,” and this is a source of jokes between the staffers and the patients.

Gleason said the set up and take down of rooms is more thorough than it's ever been because of the type of infection control the office must do.

'We've always been strict with all of that, but it's more over the top now with COVID,” he said.

Patients need to wear a mask into the office, and if they don't have one, the office will supply one.