Health Care Heroes: Dental Service Team
illustration featuring the medical center's Dental Service Team.
As the pandemic arrived in March and limited everyone’s face-to-face contact with each other, the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s Dental Service Team quickly learned and adapted new technologies to keep Veterans and their 50 staff members safe.
Chief of Dental Service, Trina Jones-Richardson, DDS, says the pandemic initially brought shock and dental services to a halt. “This separated us from our team and our patient families”. She says the team calls Veterans their ‘patient families’ because they often spend so much face-to-face time with them during the course of their treatment, they become like family.
“So to reconnect with each other and our patient families, we educated ourselves and became comfortable with the technology available to us,” said Dr. Jones. Morning huddles became virtual, the team learned to use VA Video Connect to speak one-on-one with their patients and incorporated Teledentistry and Digital Dentistry into their services.
Digital Dentistry incorporates digital or computer-controlled components to carry out procedures rather than using traditional mechanical techniques or tools. It is more efficient for both restorative and diagnostic purposes. For instance, the team now uses a digital scanner to capture a 3-D image of the tooth or teeth of interest, instead of making a physical impression using putty. Digital Dentistry has many benefits including: reduced number of dental visits to deliver a prosthetic product, increased clinic efficiency, recaptured community care referrals and reduced costs.
Dr. Jones, who has led the team for the past three years, says that besides technology, what has helped her team the most during the pandemic is the collaborative spirit her team shares with each other and the VA dental community nationwide.
As the pandemic continues, the medical center is moving forward with its journey to become a High Reliability Organization (HRO). DC VA Medical Center Teams such as Dental Service exemplify HRO values and principles including the willingness to learn, inquire and improve. The team is supporting a culture of safety while delivering quality care to Veterans in the D.C. area.
