As a sleep apnea specialist dedicated to helping people to be able to breathe better while they sleep, most would agree that we provide ‘essential service’ during this recent national crisis. Though dentists have been asked to close their offices except for only emergency treatment, we at the SleepEffect Center for Apnea Management have been able to stay open and continue providing care, the reason being that none of our procedures create any aerosol sprays believed to pose a health risk to patients.
We have always been diligent about using surface disinfection protocol and have enhanced those practices even more now. We have also rearranged our patient appointment schedules so that there is less likelihood of a patient to patient contact in our office. We also use teleconferencing as much as possible. Certainly, each of you has to be comfortable with your personal decisions regarding health care visits, but, we believe risk of exposure to you and to each of us is very low.
An interesting side note; it has been recently been noted in the medical literature that CPAP machine use may generate droplet and/or aerosol clouds around the user leading to speculation as to whether this may increase risk of exposure to respiratory infections among family members if the CPAP user is currently infected. Dental devices used for apnea management as CPAP alternatives have not been shown to create this effect.
We wish each of you health and safety and are standing by to assist you in any way we can.
JC Goodwin, DMD, Manager for SleepEffect, PLC
Sleep apnea management the easy way.
3192 N Windsong Dr, Prescott Valley, AZ
928-778-4555