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Due for a dental checkup? You should consider postponing that cleaning, WHO says

The World Health Organization is urging people to postpone dental visits, cleanings and check-ups during the coronavirus pandemic.

The WHO recommends delaying “non-essential oral health care,” including cleanings and preventative care, until there’s a drop in transmission rates because dentists work in “close proximity to patients’ faces for prolonged periods,” according to guidance released last week.

“Their procedures involve face-to-face communication and frequent exposure to saliva, blood and other body fluids and handling sharp instruments,” the guidance said. “Consequently, they are at high risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 or passing the infection to patients.”

People should seek care in emergency procedures “vital for preserving a person’s oral functioning,” the WHO said.

For those instances, the WHO recommends screening patients remotely, wearing masks, social distancing and maintaining ventilation in facilities to prevent transmission of the virus.

Dental health care personnel use instruments such as dental [drills], ultrasonic scalers and air-water syringes that create a visible spray that can contain particle droplets of water, saliva, blood, microorganisms and other debris,” Michele Neuburger, a dental officer for the CDC’s Division of Oral Health and a member of the CDC’s COVID-19 Response Infection Prevention Control Team, told NPR.

The American Dental Association recommended dentists postpone elective procedures in March.

Dentist offices were allowed to reopen in every state in June, The New York Times reported. Since then, dentists and hygienists have donned head-to-toe personal protective equipment for appointments.

“It’s like changing out of a spacesuit,” said Dr. Todd Bertman, who works in Manhattan. “It’s annoying as hell but this is what it kind of comes down to until we find a vaccine.”

More than 5.1 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S. and more than 164,000 people have died across the nation as of Aug. 11, according to Johns Hopkins University.