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Many dental procedures have been suspended or moved to future dates, due to the current pandemic, but dentist offices are still working and not only emergencies but treatments that require a constant intervention are being done normally. When you visit your dentist, you cannot have any Covid-19 sympton and, in case you need to cough, you must do it on the joint of your arm. You also need to wash your hands wnd use soap for more than 30 seconds, in order to inactivate the posible viruses you can be accumulating on your fingers and nails, and follow your dentist´s instructions to use a special mouthwash before starting any dental work.
In the case of dentist offices, for instance, there is a study made by the Institute for Antiviral Research, at Utah State University, that demonstrates that the Covid-19 virus gets inactivated after being exposed, for 30 seconds, to 100 ppm molecular iodine. Therefore, the recommended protocol is as follows:
Every patient must use 200 ppm of molecular iodine sanitizer in the reception área. Then, once in the operatory area, the patient gargles and swishes with ready-to-use iodine, with the 100 ppm formula, for 30 seconds. The formula is also used in the distilled water system, as a disinfectant, of course. Besides, the lobby and the operatory can be disinfected by a continuous spread of the same molecular iodine.
Patients can also use molecular iodine as a mouthwash every day, reducing the risk of infection in the mouth area, but there is also a saline/iodine nasal spray that can be used to prevent the infection in the throat and the nasopharyngeal areas, as gargling cannot reach every área in which the virus can go.
These prevention measurements are cheap and easy, and not only protect patients, but dentists and assistants as well. Therefore, it is structly recommended by experts, including those who are taking care of your dental health at Unicare.
For more information contact us. We are Unicare Dental Center.
