H EADLINES
Dentists Continued from Page 1
forced to close for nearly three
months with the exception of
emergency procedures.

Barnett said his clinic stayed
open during the shutdown
to help patients with dental
emergencies and prevent them
from relying on overburdened
emergency rooms.

Dr. Louis
Rossman’s practice, Rossman Endo-
dontics, was also only open for
emergencies. Rossman special-
izes in root canal treatment,
and he treats infections created
by diseased tissue inside teeth,
which can be life-threatening.

Like many businesses,
dental offi ces also struggled to
fi nd enough personal protec-
tive equipment during the
spring shortages. Rossman said
many continue to face price
gouging while buying items to
protect themselves and their
staff .

He saw the writing on the
wall in February and put in
an order of personal protec-
tive equipment then, so he
was able to keep his practice
equipped during the worst of
the shortage.

He said dentistry as a
fi eld was able to use cleaning
practices and patient protec-
tion techniques from an
earlier era.

“We took practices that
were very clean, very sterile
and made them even more so.

Dentistry learned a lot during
HIV about putting in layers
of protection for the patient,”
he said.

His safety precautions are
already designed to protect
him from aerosols produced
by working with open mouths.

“As an endodontist, I put a
latex drape around the tooth
that I work on. And then I
wipe the tooth with sodium
hypochlorite, which is a
Clorox-type product. So that
destroys bacteria and viruses,”
he said.

Now that the offi ce is open
again, Rossman arrives at 6:15
a.m. and wipes down every
surface that may have been
touched the night before. He
had air handlers installed to
circulate air fi ve times per
hour. Patients are not allowed
to come into contact with each
other and must come into the
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Dr. Frederic Barnett
Photos by Wesley Hilton
offi ce one at a time.

Even when stay-at-home
orders were lift ed, Rossman
and Barnett both said appoint-
ments remained low due to
patients’ fears about being in
medical settings, especially
ones where uncovered mouths
and noses were present.

Other dentists have reported
being busier due to pent-up
demand. Dr. Ernest Dellheim was
surprised to fi nd the hygiene
schedule at his practice,
Main Line Center for Dental
Excellence, booked solid
when the offi ce was allowed to
open again.

“Everyone wants to get their
teeth cleaned, which is great.

Th at’s the way it should be,”
he said. “Gum disease, gum
infl ammation or tooth decay
does aff ect your dental health
so it’s nice to see that patients
appreciate that.”
Barnett, Rossman and
Dellheim also have noticed an
increase in a specifi c type of
dental damage this year: tooth
fractures. “I wouldn’t say it’s an
epidemic, but we’re certainly
noticing more teeth that have
chips and cracks, and most of it
is stress related,” Barnett said.

Rossman and Dellheim
agreed that the stress of the
pandemic, along with the
recent election, is causing more
people to clench and grind
their teeth, a condition known
as bruxism. Th e pressure from
JEWISH EXPONENT
A dental offi ce at Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia
this behavior can lead to jaw
discomfort, headaches and
tooth damage. Barnett said
the pain can sometimes mimic
that of a root canal, but it can
be treated with the use of a
mouth guard.

Accessing dental care this
year is especially complicated
for seniors, who must weigh
the increased health risk of
virus exposure with the risk
of untreated dental problems.

Barnett is planning to sign up
his department for volunteer
work with the Alpha Omega-
Henry Schein Cares Holocaust
Survivors Oral
Health Program, which provides pro
bono dental care to Holocaust
survivors. Th is program was created in
2015 in response to then-Vice
President Joe Biden’s advocacy
for public-private partnerships
to meet the needs of Holocaust
survivors. A spokesperson for the
program said staff at the health
care products and services
company Henry Schein, Inc.

learned that many Holocaust
survivors were living in poverty,
contending with serious pain
and unable to speak or eat due
to severe dental issues and lack
of access to dental care. Th ey
worked with Alpha Omega
International Dental Society,
a Jewish dental fraternity, to
start the program in nine North
American cities, including
Philadelphia. Th ey have since
expanded to 22 cities.

Th e spokesperson also said
the program has provided
care for nearly 1,600 patients
and delivered care valued at
more than $3.5 million since
its inception. It has continued
to serve these patients this
year, although numbers are
down slightly from previous
years due to the pandemic.

One dentist even saw a patient
in her kitchen because she
couldn’t leave her house.

Dellheim has treated
patients through the initiative
for three years.

“It’s been an incredible
program. People’s stories, as you
can imagine, like any Holocaust
survivor, are amazing and, by
virtue of what they’ve been
through, their dental condi-
tion is horrifi c — badly broken
down, many missing teeth or
all their teeth missing from all
those years when they had no
care. So it is amazing and it’s
really gratifying to treat them,
and they’re a delight to treat,”
he said.

Having seen the impact of
stress and neglect on patients’
teeth this year, Barnett hopes
that dental care will be viewed
diff erently if more shutdowns
are needed during the
pandemic. “Th is time around, we’ll
be considered — or we really
should be considered —
essential,” he said. ●
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM