Butler County dentists are waiting patiently for their chance to return to action.

“We've been out of business for two months,” said Dr. Bob Todd of Butler Smiles Dentistry in Butler. “The struggle is real, I guess.”

In March, Gov. Tom Wolf's administration asked dental offices to close along with many other businesses and coinciding with Wolf's stay-at-home order to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

A little more than a week later, dental offices were informed they could only perform emergency procedures.

On Wednesday, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine commented about the status of dental offices in the wake of the department allowing some elective procedures in hospitals. “Dental guidance will be available by Friday,” Levine said.

Emergencies only

Todd sees patients with emergencies two days each week at his Evans City Road office. He said the state has given him some discretion on what constitutes an emergency.

Some of his patients are having to wait, he said, until what would have been a routine procedure turns into something worse.

“If the elective part isn't taken care of, it becomes medically necessary,” Todd said. “It is important for us to get back to work.”

Dr. Paul Keelan, of Keelan Dental, has also been seeing patients with emergencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Butler Township dentist had to cut his staff of about 30 people down to two, other than himself, and sees only the most afflicted patients.

“We're seeing mostly patients who are in pain,” Keelan said. “Mostly extractions, root canals, those types of things.”

Both local dentists have been using their reduced schedules to prepare their practices for reopening. The familiar routine of going to the dentist and sitting in the waiting room will change because of coronavirus safety precautions.

For example, Todd said prescreening patients, especially through telehealth portals, is more prevalent.

Patients are asked to wait and fill out paper work from their cars in the parking lot.

The office conducts temperature screenings of both staff and patients throughout the day.

When the office reopens, Todd said, the number of staff members in the room with a patient will be limited.

Bill Foley, coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College, awaited an emergency appointment with his dentist for about two months before being able to be seen Thursday.

“I had to wait for two months to get this addressed,” Foley said of having a painful, missing dental crown repaired. “It was a great relief to be able to get it done today.”

Foley's trip to the dentist's office started in the parking lot, where he had to have his temperature taken before going in. Staff wore full personal protection equipment, plexiglass panels were in place and only one patient was permitted in the building at a time.

Foley said staff even wiped down the pen he used to sign paperwork.

Additional measures

Todd said he's spent about $10,000 on additional sterilization equipment.

Keelan said, in addition to developing a staff safety committee to establish the best practices to deal with the virus, he explored buying HEPA filter equipment to minimize the risk of aerosols in the air. The high-efficiency particulate air filter removes aerosols with greater efficiency than most dental suctions, something Keelan said was a concern for dentists even before the coronavirus.

“I've been practicing for 30 years,” he said. “When I was in school, it was AIDS and hepatitis B.”

Even with all the updated equipment and procedures, the potential for illness to spread is something dentists face every day, according to Todd. And while that's always been the case, Todd said dentists do their best to minimize risk.

“We can never guarantee 100 percent that (patients) won't get sick,” Todd said. “I think the chances are really slim.”

Reopening a waiting game

Dentists and their staffs still need to wait for the guidance from the state before offices can reopen. It is unclear whether the guidance will impact dental offices statewide or those in counties that are in a particular phase of the governor's reopening.

Todd said the best he can do is keep his staff informed. He said it's important to keep their hopes up too. His staff likes to use a text chain to stay in touch and cheer each other up with social media memes.

“I think I'm a naturally upbeat, positive person to begin with, which helps,” Todd said. “The memes can raise a chuckle here and there, and that helps.”

Keelan said he is ready to get back to work, and he knows his staff is too. He wants to make sure they can provide for themselves and their families.

He said even if it looks different, they'll be ready to go back to work.

“We're not going back to normal for a while,” Keelan said. “Going forward, I don't know what to expect.”