Here are some tips on keeping your teeth healthy:
Brush your teeth twice a day (mornings and night before bedtime)
Do not eat anything after brushing at night and before you go to bed
Floss daily
Limit sugary snacks and drinks to mealtimes only
Dental Aloha during the Pandemic
On March 16th, our dental department followed national guidance to move to emergency-only dental care. Our response to COVID was to ensure that KKV could safely maintain emergency and urgent dental care at a time when other dental clinics were closing to protect staff and patients.
During the first few months of the pandemic, Dental redeployed dental assistants, intake staff, and hygienists to function as phone screeners, delivery drivers, and community health workers, thereby increasing their economic viability in a time of crisis. At the same time, the redeployment helped to strengthen the bond between dental staff and community. Our Dental team also focused on educating KKV patients about COVID19, and developing long-term planning for crisis mobility.
Our dental staff joined a KKV cross-department initiative that focused on COVID-19 prevention and response efforts. As part of this initiative, we identified a group of dental patients who were “high-risk" in relation to COVID-19. Staff called our patients to check-in with them, screened for health status factors such as oral pain that might impede nutrition and other supports for maintaining health and quality of life. Dental staff made home deliveries to patients and personally checked in to see how they were feeling. We also used KKV’s Dental Bus to distribute COVID-19 kits and information at local public housing, Salvation Army Food drops, and KKV-led COVID-19 testing events. The generators on the dental bus also brought literal “power” to the COVID-testing events and made the use of electronic health records possible.
At the main clinic, KKV dentists and hygiene staff continued to provide emergency-only dental care and accepted referrals from patients living outside our service area for care. We also started tele-dentistry for emergency triage.
