Staying on top of your oral health means making it a point to attend to your routine dental appointments. But what if you have a cold or are feeling sick, what is in the best interest of you, the dental office employees, and other patients? In this article, we’ll discuss whether or not you should reschedule your dentist appointment if you are ill.
Should You Keep Your Appointment?
If you aren’t feeling well, the best course of action is to call your dentist’s office and ask for their advice on how to handle the situation. They might advise you differently depending on the severity of your sickness, as well as whether or not your appointment was for a dental emergency or routine care.
With the COVID19 pandemic, they will probably air on the side of caution and ask you to reschedule. Make sure you give the office as much notice as possible if you do feel like you are experiencing symptoms of coronavirus such as:
- Fever or chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- Muscle or body aches
- Headache
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
Since your mouth remains open during the appointment, it is extremely important to make sure you stay home if you are experiencing any of the symptoms above since COVID19 is spread through respiratory droplets from coughs or sneezes as well as mucus and saliva.
Canceling an Appointment
Out of respect for the schedule at your dentist’s office, you’ll never want to cancel an appointment if you don’t have a reason. To keep it fair to other patients for their appointments to be on time, it is important to let the office know as soon as you would need to cancel.
If this is your first time canceling, and you have a good reason the office probably will not charge you a cancelation fee. However if you continuously cancel, especially at the last minute, you may be charged a fee or you might even be asked to find a new dentist!
It is never fun to be sick however, it is in the best interest to make sure that you are not spreading germs to other patients or dental office staff!
