ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers has joined the public-private effort spearheaded by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Dentistry to address the nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).
In March, ClearChoice also realigned services in all 63 of its centers to focus on urgent and emergent dental needs, reducing the number of unnecessary emergency room visits as hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases.
“We saw how many healthcare providers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic were in dire need of PPE, and we immediately began looking for solutions to help address this shortage,” said Mark Adams, DDS, MS, prosthodontist and vice president of clinical affairs for ClearChoice Management Services.
“We’re very excited to support UCLA’s effort and have enlisted our network of 150 providers to donate through the program,” said Adams.
UCLA is acting as a distribution center for hospitals servicing COVID-19 patients around the country and is repurposing digital printers to produce PPE. ClearChoice has already coordinated a donation of surplus PPE from its network and has likewise repurposed its digital printers, which are currently prototyping 3-D printed PPE for immediate use.
“Eliminating the unnecessary use of scarce PPE in our practices is extremely important to us,” said Jenna Benko, DMD, a ClearChoice affiliated prosthodontist in Torrance, California. “As practitioners, we each live and work in the affected markets across the country and are encouraging dental professionals in our local communities to join ClearChoice in its reduction and donation efforts.”
“ClearChoice practitioners were quick to align with the Centers for Disease Control, American Dental Association, and government guidelines they were issued to eliminate non-essential services and focus on keeping patients, the majority of whom do not have a dentist, out of emergency rooms,” said Adams.
With many dental offices across the country closed due to COVID-19, ClearChoice says its network remains committed to continuing operations to ensure that patients with essential medical conditions that require immediate attention have access to safe, expert care.
“A recent study on the dental profession’s response to the COVID-19 crisis shows that 20% of US dental practices are closed completely, even to emergencies,” said Kevin Mosher, CEO of ClearChoice Management Services.
“In this environment, we feel it is in keeping with the ClearChoice mission to step up to the responsibility of addressing the coverage gap as state and local guidelines permit, diverting people from ERs, and being there for patients who badly need care,” said Mosher.
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