Los Angeles Dental: What To Expect During The Pandemic

Despite the recent shutdowns in California, many Los Angeles dental offices remain open. At Lasry Dental Clinic, we have stayed available for emergency and regular services, such as cleanings.

There are numerous reasons why dental offices have decided to stay open. Our main concerns lie with the health complications that may arise if we were to close our doors.

Rest assured, our front line workers and our patients will do our due diligence so that you don’t have to sacrifice your overall health for your oral health.

So, what can you expect from your dentist visits during this pandemic?

Los Angeles Dental: What to Expect During the Pandemic

The world is going through a huge crisis and the fear of the pandemic has shattered our daily activities.

We’re all doing our best to self-isolate to fight with this new coronavirus. Most people and companies prefer to work from home to prevent the spread of infection. However, many dental offices in Los Angeles — including the Lasry Dental Clinic — are still open.

Our dentists and entire staff are busy providing high-quality dental emergency and elective services to our patients. We are considered front line workers. The problem is, our line of work prevents us from keeping the CDC-recommend six feet of social distancing. We have to be up close to our patients if we want to evaluate, diagnose, and treat them effectively.

Even if it’s just a regular cleaning, these appointments are necessary to ensure our patients are entirely healthy. You would be surprised what problems a simple toothache can lead to when it’s ignored.

Booking Your Dentist Appointment

Fortunately for residents, your Los Angeles dental clinics have taken every step recommended by the CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the ADA (American Dental Association) to make dentist visits possible. You can see our entire breakdown of procedures here, but here’s what you can expect at Lasry Dental Clinic:

1. Screenings: We ask our patients if they have recently had a fever, cough, or any other COVID-19 symptoms when you schedule your appointment and the day you arrive at our office. We’ll also take your temperature upon arrival. 
2. Social Distancing: We ask all patients to stay in their vehicle until the precise time of your appointment. Only caregivers we be allowed to occupancy patients. The seating area in our dental clinic is arranged to adhere to social distancing standards.
3. Appointments: Available times for dental visits are now limited to prevent multiple patients from being inside our clinic at one time. This allows our staff time to disinfect all surface areas and tools in between appointments.

The interaction with patients and doctors is limited, and we wear masks and face shields at all times. We kindly ask our patients to keep their masks on until it is time for your cleaning or dental care.

We keep dental health a priority because we know that oral health is just as important as our systematic health. Your teeth and gums need equal care and attention— even during this pandemic.

Should you cancel your dentist appointment if you live in LA?

If you’re experiencing tooth pain, bleeding gums, or have found a dark spot on your tooth, you should not cancel your Los Angeles dental appointment.

You also shouldn’t cancel your regular cleanings.

While it may not seem like a necessity during these times, there’s a reason why you need to see a dentist every six months. If you’re not properly brushing your teeth, you’ll see an increase in plaque buildup. This on its own can lead to tooth loss (even in young patients), increased risk of gum disease (those bleeding gums we mentioned), and bad breath so severe that mouthwash doesn’t help. 

If you don’t treat your dental problems on time and don’t visit the dental clinic for evaluation, these underlying conditions can worsen. In fact, in early 2020, there was a substantial increase in cracked teeth and gum disease across the United States at the start of quarantine.

Even a slight toothache is reason enough to schedule an appointment with your Los Angeles dental clinic. Teeth infections can spread to other parts of the body like the neck, eyes, and even your brain.

As if that’s not enough, Cancer.net says, “This year, an estimated 53,260 adults (38,330 men and 14,880 women) in the United States will be diagnosed with oral and oropharyngeal cancer.”

Suffice to say, the longer you wait, the more serious these small issues can be (and the more expensive).

Emergency and Elective Procedures at Los Angeles Dental Clinics

Dental offices have sufficient equipment to handle patients during the pandemic. The ADA reports that dentists have significantly fewer reported positive cases of COVID-19than other frontline healthcare professionals at only 1% nationwide. at the start of quarantine, professionals considered dentistry one of the more high-risk professions, which is why many of us shut down.

Like many other dentist offices, Lasry Dental Clinic has taken immense responsibility to adhere to the suggested guidelines for our patients’ safety. These precautions are precisely why we have been deemed safe enough to office emergency and elective services to our patients. 

Lasry Dental Clinic – We’re Open!

Let’s play out the exact scenario of what happens when you book your appointment.

If you book online, expect a call from one of our Los Angeles dental staff members. We’ll ask you the standard health-related questions regarding COVID-19, and we’ll reiterate our procedures for how to enter Lasry Dental Clinic.

On the day of your appointment, please remember to bring a mask. We have hand sanitizers set up throughout our office for your convenience. You’ll need to wait in your car until you receive a call or text from us.

From there, you’ll enter the facility and sign in as usual. There may be a slight waiting time, but we try to get you back to your private room as soon as possible.

If you feel any symptoms before or after your visit, please call us to let us know.

We understand that you may still be hesitant to visit your dentist, which is why we highly encourage you to call and speak to someone on staff. If you have even the slightest concern for your oral hygiene or health (pain, slight throbbing, abnormal plaque buildup, etc.), please call Lasry at 310-734-7705. We’re happy to answer your questions and set your mind at ease.