JULY 2 • 2020 | 37
A
fter months of being shuttered
due to the coronavirus, Michigan
dental offices have reopened for
nonessential procedures following Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer’
s May 29 announce-
ment.
Dr. Nelson Hersh from Hersh-Beattie
Orthodontics began seeing patients right
away on Friday, May 29, at his offices in
West Bloomfield and Waterford.
Before May 29, he was allowed to see
patients for emergency services only. Hersh
had very few emergency appointments,
but his office has been swamped trying to
catch everyone up with appointments.
Hersh’
s office began setting up appoint-
ments for the patients that needed to be
seen right away or those who had appoint-
ments that were canceled due to the clo-
sure. Their offices are currently open five
days a week, unlike before COVID-19 hit
when they were not seeing patients on
Fridays. The office is trying to catch up on
their backlog.
With their reopening, Hersh’
s offices
now have different protocols in place.
Upon confirmation for their appointment,
the office screens all patients with a health
questionnaire. The office is also limiting
the number of patients in the waiting room
and using every other chair when the
patients go back for their appointments.
“We’
re doing a concierge service, which
means that either mom or dad calls to let
us know that they are here, because usually
our patients are kids, and then we have
someone come out to get them and bring
them into the office. It also depends on
their age,
” Hersh said. “Then we screen
them again by asking questions, checking
their temperature and immediately bring-
ing them back and putting them into a
chair so they are not in the waiting room.
”
All the office staff has proper person-
al protective equipment (PPE) on at all
times. There is an acrylic shield in place
at the front desk, and Hersh and the other
dentists are always wearing face masks or
face shields. Patients entering the office
must also have a mask on and follow the
markings on the floor to ensure social dis-
tancing.
Hersh’
s office washes everything down
once used with strong antibacterial and
antiviral disinfectants. The office has hired
extra people to ensure that every chair is
sanitized between each patient.
“Once patients realize the procedures
that are being put in place, I believe that
they will understand that the office is
as safe as it possibly can be,
” Hersh said.
“I would rather be overprotective than
under-protective. I love our patients and I
just want to make sure we are doing every-
thing possible to keep them safe.
”
Dr. Mark Birnholtz, located in
Farmington Hills, and Dr. Paul Darmon,
located in Beverly Hills, were both able
to see some patients during the closure
for emergency services. Birnholtz’
s office
opened on May 29 and Darmon’
s office did
a soft opening on June 2, after he spent the
two days prior rehearsing and practicing
new procedures with his staff.
Birnholtz and Darmon were both in
contact with their office staff throughout
the closure and had Zoom meetings peri-
odically to keep them up to date on new
information and what procedures might
look like once the offices opened back up.
Both dentists now have similar protocols
put in place for patients. They have them
fill out a health questionnaire and wait in
their cars instead of the lobby; they check
the patients’
temperatures as soon as they
come into the office and everyone in the
office constantly wears the proper PPE.
They’
ve purchased air purifiers and even
fog machines to disinfect their spaces.
“We’
re turning over all
the air in each room every
five minutes,
” Birnholtz
said. “Next, we bought
commercial grade foggers.
We have a machine that
makes the sterilizing solu-
tion, called hypochlorous,
and then we fog each
room if we do any long procedures in there
and then we fog each room at the end of
every day. So, everything in there is hit
with the fogger and it just kills everything
it touches.”
Darmon’
s office has even remodeled
parts of the building to replace some of the
carpeting with vinyl flooring so it’
s easier
to clean and disinfect.
“I would say 90% of our
patients are fine and com-
fortable coming into our
office and can see we are
going above and beyond
to ensure our staff and
patients’
safety,
” Darmon
said. “We are happy to
answer any questions our patients may
have before they come into the office to
make sure they are comfortable when they
do come back.
”
Open
Wide?
Face shields, social distancing and fog machines
are the new ‘
norm’
for dental appointments.
CORRIE COLF CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Health
“I would rather be
overprotective than
under-protective. I
love our patients and
I just want to make
sure we are doing
everything possible
to keep them safe.”
— DR. NELSON HERSH
Dr. Nelson
Hersh
Dr. Mark Birnholtz
Dr. Paul Darmon