I’ve stayed out of posting on social media like Facebook, though I’ve been lurking a bit. It’s a good thing I’m staying out of the fray, as I’d likely make a lot of enemies by calling out people specifically.
So, I figured I could post my thoughts here in more “generic” form without calling out any particular person. 🙂
First… if you read my last two posts… it’s working! Today was pretty full. Not a banner day, but decent. Tomorrow’s schedule is even better. Next week is even better.
A few of today’s patients told me they appreciated my email, and it made them feel better. Booya!
I sent a third email out today to reinforce the previous two. But, that’s it… no more emails. I don’t want to bug them.
<rant>
To those dentists who are caving to the hysteria….I’m an adult. I’m a free American. I’m a trained doctor, well-versed in infection control. I’ve dealt with HIV, H1N1, Hep B, Hep C, and other bugs far more virulent than this one.I don’t need “guidelines” from a gov’t lackey looking to score political points. I have all my training and over 30 years of experience. My patients are also grown-ass adults who can make their own decisions with my professional input, for which they’ve trusted me for years.
If “universal precautions” didn’t work, we’d all be dead by now.We are OPEN. My patients are coming. And, we’re all going to LIVE happily ever after!If you choose to discard your own training, experience, and the exercise of critical thought in deference to the edicts of government lackeys… and then leverage your weakness as delusional “virtue signaling,” knock yourselves out. I’m not doing it. I’m going to work and living my life.
No doubt, those who are reflexively shutting down because they were told to are subject to the pervasive guilt complex that has long-infected the dental profession. It also goes to show that dentists are prone to the herd mentality.
As I like to say, “your mileage may vary.”
</rant>
I shall now don my asbestos suit. 😎 Contrarians unite!
Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2020 The Dental Warrior®
Love the rant Mike. People need to relax. We should take this virus seriously and take basic precautions, but it’s scary how easily the masses can get whipped up by government officials and media.
I take it as seriously as I take all other infectious diseases. That’s nothing new! To suggest this one is “different” is to admit that you / they weren’t taking the other infectious diseases seriously. Did you / they not take HIV, H1N1, SARS, Hep C, etc seriously? Do you / they not take HIV or Hep C seriously today? If so, what are you doing? Universal precautions, right? Well… there ya go. If that didn’t work, we’d all be long dead by now.
Sooooo…. we should treat Corona exactly the same way, even though it’s not nearly as serious as the aforementioned pathogens. (I know I’m preaching to the choir, here. Just sayin’!) We didn’t shut down our lives for the previous outbreaks of far more serious bugs. We shouldn’t now. And, I won’t.
Mike I love you most of the time, but on this we are going to have to agree to disagree. I’m not going to give you all the arguments, I’m sure you have heard them and they have not disuadded you from what I think is misguided thinking. But that is my opinion.
We were preparing yesterday to make today the last day of non emergent care. At close of business yesterday the Kentucky Board of Dentistry, the people who grant me a license to practice, “strongly recommended” that all dentist stop non emergent care as soon as possible. Our governor reiiterated their recommendation. He is doing the same for elective surgery in hospital-tomorrow last day. HE stated this recommendation will become mandatory. Our state has gone from 1 case to 28 in 8days with only testing the very sick because of lack of test kits. We can deny all we want but epidemiologically we are tracking just as most previous nations have. We have plans for our shut down,and what we will do when its over, until if and when we are ordered to shelter in place. I respect your spirit and dental savy, and look forward to your future posts about dentistry. Hope you stay safe thru all this.
You do you. 🙂 Or you do what you’re told, I suppose. Not my style. I’m going to work and living my life. I like my work and my life. I won’t let anyone else dictate it, especially when they contradict what I KNOW to be true. Even more so when they contradict themselves.
Consider that the government is asking everyone to shut down… no gatherings of more than an arbitrary number of 10… BUT, today is Election Day here. THAT is going on. Hundreds and thousands of people closely packed together… to VOTE. The politicians don’t care if you or I lose our livelihood. They DO care if they lose THEIR jobs and votes. So, the voting goes on, baby!
Your mileage may vary.
Mike,
It’s not true that hundreds and thousands of people are being packed together today. The election process is continuing, but not in the same manner as usual.
Four states are delaying their primaries. Three states are holding them. All states that are holding them have modified their procedures in order to keep people distanced.
In the end, I will give credit to those who listened to the epidemiologists. I will NEVER castigate those that chose to alter their “business as usual” lifestyles, decided to close shop, to practice social distancing in a measured effort to curtail the spread of this virus. Those are the wise and heroic in my opinion.
We have family living in South Korea. We have friends in Italy.
I prefer to not overwhelm our healthcare system within the coming weeks and months like Italy has if we can help it.
I have a 94 yo father with PAH, two friends who have sons battling brain cancer (one in hospital undergoing surgery and one at home, a friend whose son has been battling a pneumonia of unknown type since Dec. (in and out of hospital 5 times… currently on oxygen), 4 friends that had pneumonia this winter, a husband that has had pneumonia 3x in his life plus 2 strokes, a niece that has a blood disease, celiacs and Hashimoto thyroiditis, a cousin that has Pompei’s disease, another that has metastasized breast cancer, a young grandnephew that has a muscle disease…. and tvat’s Just off the top of my head… many more if I really sat down to think about it.
If any of these become infected they could require hospitalization (and most likely would).
Doing nothing different = 80 % infection rate for virus with no known treatment.
No vaccine, no antiviral.
This virus is different also because it is highly contagious and can be passed on without symptoms.
You may be practicing “universal precaution. ” Good for you. But if you think that makes you any smarter or better than those that choose to close their own doors or follow the “herd mentality” on this… I would thumb my nose at you.
I’m speaking of my own state. And, it IS true. I don’t make stuff up. 🙂 Elections are going AS ORIGINALLY planned. No changes. So, yeah… hundreds and cumulatively thousands will be gathering and passing through small spaces.
I’ve said, repeatedly, if you want to close out of panic or some delusional sense of “civic duty,” knock yourself out. Don’t expect me (and many like me) to blindly fall into line or lockstep. I trust my own judgement more than those of politicians. Again, your mileage may vary. I respect that… barely from an intellectual standpoint, but I respect your right to do so. Likewise, I expect others to respect my right to AUTONOMY and do what is best for me.
Your dismissive comment about universal precautions is simply incorrect. Universal precautions is serious business, precipitated primarily by the HIV / AIDS crisis. If you were exposed or transmitted HIV, it was a DEATH SENTENCE. So, yeah… I’m quite confident (with over 30 years of experience) that universal precautions are quite effective. We do it EVERY DAY, ALL DAY. I would no more let my “guard” down for this than I do EVERY DAY for all the other pathogens we encounter… again, DAILY.
Yes… my opinions are strongly stated. It’s what I do. 🙂
Nobody is offering to cover my overhead or support the families of my staff or my own. So, yeah… as a friend of mine says, “scroom!”
But, I appreciate your comments! 🙂 I have gotten many private emails and messages from people thanking me for expressing my opinion (that they share but are afraid to voice). A lot of dentists are very worried about covering their overhead and payroll. VERY worried
Mike,
Like you, I feel that Dentist are more than capable to handle this situation and although my personal belief that the reaction to the virus is panic driven, what HAS changed over the last couple of days is that Federal, State & Local officials have made UNPRECEDENTED moves like shutting down entire cities, imposing curfews, shutting down restaurants/health clubs/bars, AND both the ADA and our State CSDA has recommended that dentists cease operations for all but emergency care for the next few weeks. That’s why I changed my mind and shut down the practice.
Hopefully, others who had similar feelings to mine can learn from my personal experience and will shut down.
———————————————————————————————————–
Why I decided to Shut Down my Dental Practice for 2 Weeks.
The Wuhan COVID-19 Virus is wreaking havoc throughout the world and everyone is being asked to do their part to help contain the virus. Many of you know that I have been a vocal advocate that this is all overblown and panic driven, and I didn’t believe the virus is as bad as everyone is making it out to be. That being said, I made a decision to Shut Down my Dental Practice for 2 weeks and here’s why.
We are ALL going through an unprecedented time in our lives filled with uncertainty, misinformation and good information. National, State & Local Governments are requesting that people comply with self-quarantines for 14 days to #FlattenTheCurve of the Wuhan COVID-19 Virus so that our healthcare facilities are not overrun with patients who may be sick and require urgent ICU care with ventilators. There simply aren’t enough hospital beds in ANY country in the world to handle a whole lot of people getting sick quickly. Some countries have had to make heart-wrenching decisions on what patients will be placed on ventilators and others won’t. Basically, they are making decisions as to who lives and who dies.
Although my own personal belief is that a lot of this is panic driven, I don’t want to be THAT person who potentially infects a client, a team member, or my family. Public Health & Government officials are taking this seriously, and so should we.
I had a meeting this morning with my entire team and we mutually agreed that shutting down the practice for a couple of weeks is the right thing to do. Two weeks is not going to kill our business. Most of our clients are watching the crisis unfold on TV or social media and are scared themselves. Following recommendations by National & State Dental Associations, we’re going to postpone all but emergency patient care for the next two weeks. During those two weeks, we will see emergencies on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s from Noon-3pm (if applicable) with limited staffing.
In addition to doing our part to help curtail the spread of the disease, we can use these two weeks as a time for us to develop new protocols for treatment moving forward; tighten up systems; do a full inventory of supplies; clean & organize all of our treatment areas, storage rooms and lab; work on unscheduled or cancelled treatment lists and begin booking appointments in April & May; do in-office training; watch online CE; and hit the ground running when we’re open for business once again. For the next two weeks, I will pay the team their regular hourly wages and, hopefully, we can open again as scheduled in a world where the virus has been contained. If that doesn’t happen, for whatever reason, such as a government shutdown or mandatory quarantine, then the team will be placed on unemployment until such time as our practice can reopen. They are fully aware of that possibility and we are all unanimous and on the same page.
My business can survive a 2 week disruption. We’ll still have some insurance checks coming in and I have some money put aside for situations just like this. What would be really difficult for me to survive is if I was the cause of someone else become critically ill, or their death. Life is too precious a gift to gamble with.
I urge all Dental Practices in the USA (and around the world) to do the same and help change the impact of the Wuhan COVID-19 Virus.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mike Maroon
Hi Mike! Thanks for chiming in. I appreciate that you read my post and commented.
I could not disagree more. But, you do you. I’ll do me. Your appeal is a logical fallacy known as “argumentum ad populum.” Briefly… In argumentation theory, an argumentum ad populum (Latin for “appeal to the people”) is a fallacious argument that concludes that a proposition must be true because many or most people believe it. There’s also the logical fallacy known as “Appeal to Authority.” In other words, “Because _____ said so.”
Yeah… I’ll just say, “I don’t care.” Because I don’t care what ______ said or what is popular. I am capable of critical thought and deciding for myself. I may change my mind, but it won’t be because of popularity or authority. I may change my own mind, depending on the situation at hand.
I respect your decision, as you’ll surely do what’s best for you, in your judgement. It’s not right for me. Not yet.
Instead of “urging all dentists” to follow you OR me, I would urge them to use critical thinking and decide for THEMSELVES how to conduct their lives and practices.
Well said.
Mike,
My comment about universal precautions was not meant dismissively. I worked in laboratory medicine while the diagnostic tests for HIV, hepatitis, syphilis (and other) infectious diseases were being developed. I have worked with hundreds of thousands of blood and other human samples, as well as drawn blood HIV, hepatitis, and other communicable infected patients… so no need to defend universal precaution. As well, I have worked in surgical suites.
My point was that although you say that you respect others for their own actions, your tone and choice of wording indicate otherwise.
The CDC recommends putting off routine procedures (like cleanings ) for the time being. I intend to follow these recommendations. I practice good home care.
Cheers.
Oh… my word choices and tone are very much intentional. My writing style has always been provocative. If everyone agreed with me, I’d know I’m not doing my job or being myself! 😀
Yes… I cannot help holding those who eschew critical thinking and live their lives appealing to authority in contempt. I just do. And, I don’t care who it “offends.”
I’m just calling out those who have embraced the new “humble-brag” and virtue-signaling, priding themselves on following the herd. I say, “Good for you! I don’t care.” But, they go further in shaming and casting aspersions towards those of us who choose not to follow the herd. I’ve been told it’s our “civic duty!” Whatever! LOL! As they say, “You do you.” But, I’m gonna be me! It goes both ways. But, when you or they try to IMPOSE your position upon me… Yeah, I’m going to fight back. HARD.
Couldn’t agree more!
Agree 100% Mike! I’m open too! Lots of “chest thumping” on social media by docs talking about how they are doing the right thing blah blah blah. Like you I don’t (won’t) name names. Everyone must do what they deem is right.
Nice article. Your patients are not cancelling on you? That is great for you. even when we try to keep the office going, patients are taking the abundance of caution and not coming. They know we follow strict infection control guidelines, so that’s not the issue They don’t want to come in. We are not going to be jerks and make them come in.
Also, if this virus can get past level 3 Atsm masks, then how safe are HCP?
I would work if I could and keep my employees active…..
lucky you.
I understand. Sure we’ve had some cancel too but most call to see that we are still open. Nobody is making anyone come in or be a jerk about anything. If patients want to cancel we tell them we understand and try to find a time that works best for them all while assuring them that we do everything under the sun to ensure a safe appointment.
So far, so good. I think my preemptive mass email newsletter really made a difference. I didn’t know if it would. But, it did. But, things are very much in flux. The other shoe could drop at any moment. In the mean time, I’m keeping my nose to the grindstone. It reminds me of a blog I wrote a long time ago: The Wall.