Dentists at Ash & Roberts in Centralia Work to Create Safe Practice During COVID-19

Centralia Dentists Welcome Back Happy Patients

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As patients began to return to Ash & Roberts’ dental office after it was shut down for two months, doctors Steven Ash and Brian Roberts noticed something a tad unusual in their returning patients: they were excited to go to the dentist.

“I’ve never noticed so many people happy to come back to the dentist,” Ash said. “I heard a lot of gratitude … and I heard a lot of people saying this is like an adventure or going out on a date.”

Ash & Roberts, a Centralia dental office, was allowed to do emergency dental procedures under Gov. Jay Inslee’s March 2020 shutdown order, but routine procedures such as cleanings and fillings were prohibited until May, when Inslee issued new guidance allowing non-emergency medical services to continue as long as they met certain safety guidelines.

For those two months, Roberts and two assistants were the only people in the normally-bustling office.

“But we didn’t just sit back and coast,” said Business Manager Josh Prigmore, who spent most of his time during the shutdown doing research and trying to keep up with updates to often-conflicting guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Dental Association and the state of Washington.

“Instead of just waiting for something to be handed down to us, we tried to really get out in front of it,” Prigmore said. “It was about the safety and health of our patients and our staff.”

One decision they made was to purchase extraoral suction systems, machines that collect aerosols and droplets produced during dental procedures through a mouthpiece hood and then filter them to capture and kill any bacteria, for each dental operation.

“Those devices that they bought, they were a considerable expense to the practice in a time where we didn’t know what our income was going to look like,” Prigmore said. “It was about trying to make sure that we were keeping all of us as safe as possible.”

Additional COVID-19 safety measures, such as regular cleaning and sterilization of high-touch items in the office, social distancing and mask requirements for the office, pre-screening tests for symptoms and temperature checks at the door were put into place before the office reopened for routine procedures.

But, like many businesses at that time, Ash & Roberts had difficulty sourcing the personal protective equipment (PPE) they needed to safely operate. And halfway through their first Monday back open, the doctors learned that the mask requirements for dentists had changed since they confirmed they were ready to go the Friday before, so they had to shut down again until they could source the correct masks.

“We had to do a lot of scrambling to figure out how to get those masks and make it work, so that’s been a big challenge on that part,” Prigmore said.

Doctors and hygienists currently wear N95 masks underneath a surgical mask when interacting with patients, which the staff are used to by now, said Ash.

But it wasn’t pleasant at first.

“You can’t really understand it until you put one on and try to wear it for eight hours,” Ash said.

The good news for Ash & Roberts was that, due to the staff’s preparation work during the shutdown, almost all of their planned COVID-19 safety measures were in place before the first wave of COVID cases made it to Lewis County.

“We were pretty much ready to go by the time we started seeing cases here and hearing stories of some of our patients getting it,” Roberts said.

Patients also saw the work that the dental office put into creating a safe environment.

“Our doctors already instilled a lot of confidence in our patients prior to all of this, so I think people have really learned to trust the practice for a lot of years, so they figured that we would put our patients first,” Prigmore said. “Both these doctors are going to provide the best care possible in the safest manner possible.”

More Information on Ash & Roberts DDS

Address: 2409 Borst Ave., Centralia

Phone: 360-736-8380

Online: ashandroberts.com

Facebook: @ashandroberts