We are flooded with news of the novel coronavirus every hour, every day. It’s making me wonder whether there really is a Thanos somewhere who has snapped his finger in an attempt to wipe out half the world. Because maintaining a ‘balance’ is historically scientific – the proof being Darwin’s theory of evolution – survival of the fittest. The fit, whether rich or poor, young or old, Asian or European, emerge victorious even if infected. In a way, this virus is uniting people all around the planet, getting all to pray for a cure. Bonding families by strictly putting them under a roof. Reinstating the place of nature in the man’s world.

Beyond these rays of positivity, yes – we are all (privileged enough to be) bored in our homes and time seems to just pass… Wake up!!! It’s time to use time constructively.

Here’s how to use your lockdown time wisely –

1.Be informed. Know when to work and when to not.

Routine dental work is best avoided when a pandemic strikes. Most of us have wisely closed down clinics. But what about dental institutions where the staff and postgraduates are still working on rotations? And what about ethics that demand emergencies to be treated?

Be prepared to take care of a dental emergencies during global emergencies with the Wuhan infection protocol. Even though Wuhan was the birthplace of the virus, they continued emergency dental treatments and reported no new cases from their dental clinic. For this, besides use of PPE, you have to alter the design of your dental clinic like the dental department of Wuhan University did. Request your college HOD to do the same in the college department area.

Also read: ‘I’m-planted’ 4000 years ago! - A history of dental implants before titanium

2.Perform aerosol – free treatments.

You now know when & how to perform treatments. But spare a thought – which treatment will you perform?

We all know that aerosols are a source of infection. Is there a way to perform basic dental treatments without producing aerosols? Yes, there is a way – and it dates back to almost 25 years ago.

3.Work on your documentation skills.

Now you have all the time to put your patient records in order & learn how to document cases properly. But really is there a need? Suddenly everyone is talking about documentation these days. If you’re confused about its exact goals, make a stop here and read about it.

4.Plan, plan, plan.

Thinking of opening a clinic after the COVID-19 scare is gone? Or wondering how to enhance patient experience? The lockdown is the perfect time to plan systematically!

5.Read up clinically relevant theory which you otherwise would not.

We all have got a corona information overload. But thankfully, reading news about it day after day has gotten some of us back to the habit of reading!

Use the lockdown and this new found habit to refresh yourself reading up some theory, which you would otherwise always ignore or never think of reading – even though it is clinically relevant.

6.Read up about dental research.

Another part of dental science that we tend to turn a blind eye to is dental research or medicine. Have you read anything about oral cancer in a long time?

Here’s what I read recently – the Oral Care Foundation (USA) says that the death rate associated with oral cancer is high not because it is hard to diagnose – but because it is routinely diagnosed late in its development. Do you know that science is working on diagnosing it early? Yes, there’s now a biosensor technology, which is also easy to use and diagnoses malignancy in its earliest stages!

Also read: THE NEW DECADE BEGINS!

See. So many options to use your time in a good way, right? We at DentalReach, have also been organizing free webinars & Facebook live sessions regularly and are grateful for your participation. We will be organizing many more such sessions in the future too. To be updated, make sure you are connected with us on our Facebook group. We also urge you to share updates with your friends and colleagues so that at the end of this lockdown, we all have learnt something together.

The upcoming May issue will be a mid -year refresher. Our writing team will not be writing any articles. For the month of May, the writer will be – YOU! You can write on any topic, get introduced to our advanced writer-editor dual platform (Storychief), get an experience of our editing process and be published! Please send in your entries as early as possible on nupur@dentalreach.co.

So, stay home, stay safe and avoid the contagion’s caress!