 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

