The following excerpt is taken from AGD Impact’s Ethics column, which is a collaboration between AGD and the American College of Dentists. 

With the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines and continuing efforts to socially distance and wear masks in public, the pandemic may show signs of waning in 2021. Recently, I saw my dentist, who, judging by the amount of personal protective equipment he was wearing, looked ready for extraterrestrial travel. During my visit, a staff member followed me around disinfecting surfaces. Yet, my dentist acted as if nothing had changed. I asked how it has been, and he shared some of the struggles of serving patients during a pandemic. It was clear that his commitment to patients had not suffered due to the pandemic. 

While I was sitting as a patient and seeing an environment that was significantly different from earlier visits, I thought to ask the dentist about self-care. Typically, we are trained to ask, “How are you doing?” This is merely a pleasantry, and very rarely do we expect to receive a deep answer. Perhaps we should also train ourselves to regularly ask, “How am I doing?” While the core of the dental mission is to care for others, we cannot do that successfully without adequate self-care. 

Read the full article here.