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2020-06-30 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
COVID-19 Protection Advice from a Doctor, albeit a Dentist
[American Thinker] Throughout my working life, I've had friends introduce me to strangers as "Dr. Pete." The new acquaintance invariably comments, "Oh, so you're a physician?" And then I reply, "No, I'm just a dentist." Should the ensuing conversation veer into science or health care, I make sure to preface all my remarks with "I'm just a dentist, but..."

How dentists became the idiot stepchildren of healthcare, I don't know. Fact is, the first two years of dental school and medical school are identical. And when you're attacking someone's corpus with needles, drills, Novocaine, and narcotics, you'd better have a damn good sense of anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology lest you damage or kill your patient.

So imagine my bewilderment in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic at all the politicians, pundits, and talking heads who've suddenly become experts in infection control — not to mention all the lay people wearing masks of every conceivable design and standing six feet away from others, as if six feet were some magic number. Poor sheeple — they think they're safe, they're following the "science," and far be it from me to disabuse them of their imaginary sense of security.

As I was saying, I'm just a dentist — with forty-five years of studying and practicing infection control — and here's how I see it. We live in a sea of bacteria, viruses, and Spirochetes (Lyme Disease, syphilis), a veritable Grand Central Station of pathogens, all of them vying to take us down. They're on doorknobs and newspapers, in our air and water, and emanating from the mouths (and other orifices!) of our fellow human beings.

One way to protect yourself from these ubiquitous bugs is to raise your immune status. Eat better, exercise more, get your sleep, and manage your stress. Like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek, you want your shields up at full capacity and the warp engines working. Run yourself into the ground with bad habits or bad thoughts, and you get sick.

The other form of protection is infection control. Exactly how do dentists practice infection control, a question not one person has ever asked? This is how.

You enter a treatment room, and after several minutes of witty repartee with your patient, you wash your hands thoroughly with warm water and soap, and long enough to hum the theme song to Gilligan's Island. Then you carefully put on a mask, protective goggles, and gloves. Done right, the patient's protected from you, and you're protected from the patient.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-06-30 00:33|| || Front Page|| [21 views ]  Top

#1 Done right, the patient's protected from you, and you're protected from the patient.

If they've washed the instruments.
Last time my wife went to the dentist she came down with both the flu and strep 3 days later.
Posted by Skidmark 2020-06-30 08:52||   2020-06-30 08:52|| Front Page Top

#2 It's the journals in the waiting room, Skid.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-06-30 09:28||   2020-06-30 09:28|| Front Page Top

#3 Skid-

If it's any kind of decent dental office, they'll actually be happy to talk about their infection control protocols, level of disinfection, and sterilization technology.

A really good office will have an entire web page dedicated to that.
Posted by no mo uro 2020-06-30 18:11||   2020-06-30 18:11|| Front Page Top

01:15 Grom the Reflective
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00:56 Skidmark
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00:31 Grom the Reflective









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