visit to the Dentist: How Hypochlorous Acid Dispensers can help schools open more safely

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I generally hate going to the dentist, but the other day, having been given the grace of three months by our COVID director, I went in for my annual inspection and tooth cleaning. Here’s what I found out which as a former Science teacher and Secondary School Principal gave me increased hope for modified openings of schools on a safer level for teachers and students.

My dental technician was suited up per usual in her scrubs, gloves, goggles and wearing her surgical mask per usual with the addition of extra masking even though I had already been quizzed about my recent contacts, symptoms, had my own temperature taken, and was wearing my mask.

“So you’re finally back at work. This must be one of the most dangerous types of profession for exposure to the Virus,” I said.

“Yes, we’re right up there at the top, about in the 97th percentile group of those most likely to get the virus from our work,” she replied.

“Not comforting,” I replied.

“No, but we have to keep the beans and bacon on the table. We were one of the first dental offices to close and one of the last to open, because the Dr. and all of us here wanted to get the safety thing right.”

“So what have you done?” She hands me the special glasses and tips me back i n the chair.

Dr. found a way to cut down the escape of aerosol splattering when we use our sprayers or do drill work with the water on as a coolant. He also found some great HEPA air filters that take COVID viral particles out of the air and are quiet enough to use in our office and work areas. Best of all! He found that Hypochlorous Acid in a safe anti-microbial mist in each room kills viruses on contact, by forming a protective film on the surfaces of the counters and anything we might touch so that any viruses are instantly killed.”

She pauses, reaches over and flips a little toggle and I hear a sucking sound coming from the little funnel just next to my left ear. The water squirter goes into my mouth and she cleans out the first batch of debris in the regular manner, while I feel a slight movement of air from my mouth, past my cheek toward the mouth of the funnel. She stops washing, flips the suction apparatus off, and says, ” Open wide” before I have a chance to say anything.

” Pretty neat, Huh?”

“Ungh-Ungh,” I manage as she presses down and scrapes the back of my lower incisors, going after a year’s worth of plaque.

“Good Gums!” she says, bearing down one more time on the scraper. “We all know the basic drill : Social Distancing, Don’t touch your face, Wash your hands and Wear a Mask! If everyone did these things, our country would already be out of this crisis the way many other parts of the world are.”

“Ung-Ung!”

“Butwe don’t teach self-discipline in our country, so it’s like herding cats. Those of us who have to work need to look out for good old # 1, because the Dufus-ass who walks into our work place may not have the brains to folow the basics.” She lets me sit up for a second.

“So what are you doing to keep safe? 97th percentile doesn’t sound like a good place to be.” She leans me back.

We bought us these HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) Filters that take spores, bacteria, many viruses out of the air completely. See the link: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=hepa+filters+are+used+to+remove+microbes+from They are so efficient that they take things out of the air down to 3 nano meters. Since Covid 19 Virus is qbout 120 nano meters in diameter. Bingo! Virus! Out you GO!”

“But that can’t stop your Dufus from getting spit on your equipment or countertops. What do you do?” I manage to blurt out before the next round of scraping and cleaning begin.

“Hypochlorous Acid!”

I must have jerked because she sat me up and let me breath for a moment.

“No, silly, you’ve had chemistry, Not that stuff! That would Kill you! I said: HYPOCHLOROUS” She spelled it out, “H-Y-P-O-C-H-L-O-R-O-U-S”

“Eh?”

The good Doc walked in about that time. “Tell him about hypocholous acid, Dr.,” she said.

“A Great natural killer of bacteria and viruses,” he said. “Your body makes it is certain blood cells. In the office and here, it can be disseminated in an aerosol of 200parts per million by a machine in hospitals, operating rooms, our dental office, even regular work offices. We have a special generator for it. Kind of our extra insurance policy that we don’t get COVID19 here in our office. Here, Let me give you the link to a Dentist who really explains it. Got your Cell Phone?

I whip out my phone!

Here’s the link! Dentist During Corona Virus: https://abc7news.com/dentist-during-coronavirus-near-me-open-and/6213749/ “Complete with a Video!“

“Wow! “Could this be used to safely disinfect schools during COVID?”

It’s approved by the FDA and The National Institutes of Health have done studies on in for Office use for exactly that purpose! Here’s a Link to that really important set of informtion! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7315945/

Is it being used?

“Well it’s been used in a number of schools that had Influenza problems and works on a rotational basis. Here’s one good one that all Educational Leaders should be looking at right now. Fort Smith Schools did it with just one Fogger Per School! ! I’ll bet it will work for everyone in the country if we can just persuade some leaders! https://www.fortsmithschools.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=39&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=76112&PageID=1

The Doc glances around my mouth. “Hmmm, Nice Gums! Keep up the flossing!” Then He’s headed out the door.

“Thanks Doc! You may have just saved one heck of a lot of lives! “

WHAT DO YOU THINK!!