Humbled and Dismayed, But Strengthened Politics Gone Viral
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While not fully appreciated or acknowledged—and despite mystifying obstacles— dentists have provided a blueprint for how to safely navigate a pandemic.
ociety’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has humbled and dismayed, but strengthened the dental profession. Humbled to helplessly observe state-of-the-art science struggle to treat and prevent the disease and to discover the depths of unpreparedness and mismanagement of many of our institutions. Dismayed that, in some states, particularly New York, our political leaders failed to trust the profession of dentistry to make the final call on the timing of our ability to safely return to the delivery of comprehensive services after prolonged restrictions. Strengthened, as a result of our courage initially to place the public good above selfinterest and voluntarily limit the scope of our practices and the evidence that will again confirm dentists’ competence to safely render all aspects of oral healthcare during a pandemic. For several weeks after our self-imposed and necessary suspension of elective care, practicing dentists stood equipped to safely render comprehensive care. During this time, organized dentistry diligently communicated evidence of its readiness to the office of the governor, his “Reopening New York” task force, the Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, Speaker of the House, members of the State Senate and Assembly, Department of Health and county officials, on multiple occasions and on vari-
2 JUNE/JULY 2020 The New York State Dental Journal ●
ous platforms. We repeatedly called on the governor to rescind his emergency order limiting dental practice to emergency and urgent care, but to no avail. Our profession received no cogent explanation for the unwarranted delay in reopening. In fact, we received no response at all from our state government, which, in effect, locked itself down when dentists and the public most needed decisive action. As a result, state mandates blindly forced dentistry to the sidelines as one of the few groups of medical professionals precluded from exercising its professional judgment for the full benefit of patients for too long. Ultimately, in order to force the state’s hand, the New York State Dental Association made the unilateral assertion that, despite not being part of a phase, dentists would reopen as a professional service in Phase 2, since continuing the restriction was arbitrary and capricious. Almost immediately thereafter, the governor rescinded his executive order and sanctioned our reopening. Whether related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a second wave or future crises, our political leaders could learn from the dental profession’s response over the past few months. Dentists respected and relied upon the knowledge and expertise of the scientific community and the evidence it generated regarding the virus and den-
