redbird | masking at the dental office

went to the dentist and had my teeth cleaned this afternoon. The cleaning went well, and the hygienist was wearing what looked like an N95 mask--but the other staff were wearing medical masks, and none of them had their noses covered when I first saw them. The receptionist who checked me in had let her mask slide down, and pulled it up when I walked in wearing a very visible N95 mask, and again when she saw me waiting to pay for the fluoride treatment after the cleaning. There were two other employees in the front while I was waiting to pay, both with their masks on their chins. One of them pulled it up over his nose; the other only pulled his mask up halfway, to cover his mouth but not his nose.

This isn't just slacking--three months ago the same office had a sign telling everyone they had to mask, and while they weren't enforcing that for patients, the staff were all masked, and one of them quietly thanked me for having asked another patient to pull his mask up. This time, the sign was "masks are optional, please respect people who choose to wear them." In case they've forgotten, they're a medical office, and could require masking whether or not the state is telling them to. I have to take my mask off to have my teeth cleaned; the office staff don't have that excuse.

On my way into the Harvard subway station and busway, I passed a billboard saying that, following CDC guidance, masks are encouraged. I would have expected my dentist to do at least as well as the MBTA.

I made my next appointment before I noticed just how bad the dental office's masking was, and I'm wondering whether it's time to find a new dentist, possibly closer to my new apartment.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's so discouraging.

Alas. I wonder what's changed in their office since your previous visit, if anything (new dentist, new office manager, or what).

Finding a new dentist might be a good idea anyway. You can always cancel your next appointment later.

Horrific.

On top of the cluelessness and medical risk, does anyone have any idea how silly it looks to wear a mask over your mouth but with your nose sticking out?

The only thing that enrages me more than teachers not masking is medical workers not masking. WTF?

This is particularly bad because if I'm at the occupational therapist's, or getting an X-ray or most of the other medical things that can't be done remotely, I can at least be masked myself.

A dental cleaning is on the short list that doesn't work for. (The other I've had in the last three years was an exam by an ENT doctor, who only needed me to uncover my mouth for about a minute so he could look inside, and he was properly masked.)

I took the uncomfortable precaution of a covid test yesterday before going to the dentist's, because there's no subjective way to tell whether a particular episode of coughing is a new covid or other-disease symptom, rather than the cough I now have an inhaler from. I took the test for the sake of the dental office staff as well as other patients, and rationally I know it was the right thing to do even if other people are being stupidly careless, but at least the buses don't have signs suggesting that masking is a personal eccentricity.

I hope you can find a new dentist.

Whether you seek out a new dentist or not, I'd suggest that you make a complaint to this one. If they can be shamed into doing better, many people would benefit.