Effective Tips to Keep your Dental Practice Thriving during COVID-19

Ensuring safety and peace of mind for yourself, office personnel and patients is key to the successful management of your dental practice during COVID-19. Establishing proper preventative management practices to protect your staff and clients is an essential first step.

Before you reopen your dental office after COVID-19, consider switching to paperless options, like digital forms that integrate into your EMR software. This will tremendously reduce the chances of spreading COVID-19, as patients will have the convenience of filling out forms remotely before arriving at your office.

A simple way to establish patient trust is to inform them of protective measures your practice has adopted to ensure their safety. Last, but certainly not least, extend a helping hand to those struggling during these difficult times by volunteering with community efforts.

1) Prevention Management

Whether your dental practice selects to accept only emergency-based visits or includes routine exams, preventative measures should be in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Minimizing the risk of COVID-19 infection to healthcare personnel is equivalently as important as protecting patients. All dentists and staff should continuously remain up-to-date on CDC Guidelines, Dental State Board regulations, and COVID-19 statistics within their specific region.

According to the CDC, dentists and healthcare personnel are highly recommended to observe the following general prevention measures:

1)Persistently maintain effective Hand Hygiene

2)Wear personal protective equipment at all times

3)Maintain appropriate distance from all individuals

4)Proper disinfection of rooms, equipment, devices, furniture and all routinely handled items

5)Ensure patients and any accompanying guests wear face masks and appropriately sanitize their hands 

2) Consider paperless options

With the advent of COVID-19 easily transmitting from one surface to another, eliminating the need for paper forms becomes imperative. Converting to digital forms is a convenient and safe way to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in your practice. Investing in digital software customized for your dental practice not only helps alleviate the constant worry about COVID-19 transmission, but is also an efficient, eco-friendly, cost-effective choice. 

3) Building patient trust

During these uncertain times, patients are understandably anxious about visiting the dentist. It’s imperative to reach out to current and prospective patients, reassuring them that your office is taking all necessary precau  tions to ensure the safety of patients and staff. Explaining in detail the preventative measures your office has embraced will alleviate fears that patients are hesitant to acknowledge. 

4) Reaching out to provide services 

The entire world is experiencing the devastating effects of COVID-19, and dentists are certainly not immune. Your practice may be one of the numerous businesses that are struggling to stay afloat amidst the pandemic, or the pandemic may be bringing in more clientele.

Either way, utilizing your capabilities to assist people going through COVID-19-related hardships would not only improve your overall mental wellbeing but will inevitably attract the attention of clients looking for a caring, kindhearted dentist. Volunteering opportunities during the pandemic are endless and indispensable. 

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Conclusion

COVID-19 has created a challenging atmosphere of uncertainty that affects everyone. Prioritizing the safety of personnel and patients will help establish the essential trust to keep your practice growing. Educating clients on steps your office is taking to ensure their safety is imperative to reinforce that trust.

Embracing digital software during the pandemic would be an intuitive step to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading within your office and would make your office environmentally friendly.

As numerous individuals are struggling to afford services and basic needs during the pandemic, stepping up to volunteer in whatever way possible will bring positivity to your practice in a plethora of ways.