OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — If you're in need of a dentist, Sanders Family Dental near 168th St. and Cornhusker Rd. is open.
"I can see patients from two to 102, and we're very family oriented, try to make sure that we can see patients of all ages and every family member," said Dr. Mike Sanders. "We do everything from a root canals, to routine cleanings, implant placement and all the above; we try and do that here."
During the pandemic, they were forced to close for six weeks.
"I was here for dental emergencies, so we would see one or two patients a day that had a toothache or an abscess tooth, some acute pain that we wanted to keep them out of the emergency room," said Sanders.
But the remaining of his eight staff members were furloughed during that time.
They reopened for all business four weeks ago and have made some changes.
"One of the major changes that we've made is we're doing an electronic questionnaire before the patients get here," Sanders said. "So they'll fill out a screening questionnaire, asking them things like, if they've traveled outside of the state, if they have a cough, a fever. If they're in dental pain, we want to know that too. The other things we're doing is we're checking the temperature on all patients when they walk in the door. We're also checking our staff's temperature every day, and going through a staff questionnaire to make sure everybody here is healthy and safe."
And wearing protective equipment to protect against aerosols.
"All the providers are wearing masks and safety glasses at all times or loops," said Sanders. "Sometimes if we're doing a procedure that's going to cause a lot of splatter or things that might spray, we will wear our face shield on top of all that, just to keep our face protected."
They're also practicing social distancing.
"No staff members are supposed to go on a break together," Sanders said. "We're trying to minimize the amount of people in the waiting room, so we're asking patients to not bring a guest with them, unless they're accompanying a minor. And we're trying to seat patients as soon as they get here."
Sanders says they were already doing what he felt was above and beyond sterilization procedures and infection control. So they're continuing wiping down surfaces, sterilizing equipment and using disposables when appropriate.
Sanders adds some dentists are using hydrogen peroxide or other mouth rinses before treating patients. He says they're typically used before oral surgery.
"There's a lot of germs in the mouth that are not just coronavirus germs," Sanders said. "There's lots of germs all over so any time we're using mouth rinses it's not a bad idea."
So if you're delaying a visit to the dentist, Sanders says you shouldn't worry.
"A dental office versus a doctor's office is a little different," Sanders said. "A dentist is used to being in your oral cavity, where there's lots of germs and lots of bugs that not many people want to be around. So we're already kind of prepared for this type of situation. I wouldn't be afraid to go into a dental office or a doctor's office for that matter because those are the specialists. They know what they're doing when it comes to infection control, and I feel very confident that the providers here in our state are doing a wonderful job of keeping the population safe."
LOCATION:
9961 S. 168th Ave. Omaha, NE 68136
HOURS:
Monday: 8AM - 5PM
Tuesday: 11AM - 7PM
Wednesday: 9AM - 4PM
Thursday: 7AM - 3:00PM
Friday: 8AM - 12PM
Saturday: By Appointment
Sunday: Closed
SERVICES:
Normal
CONTACT:
402-614-4017
