Why does my dentist want to know if I’ve had the vaccine?

[Fucket]

I went to the dentist today, I also went last week. They were asking everyone if they’d had a covid jab or not when they arrived for their appointment. They telephoned me back to ask me again because they hadn’t recorded it.

I can’t work out why they need to know, and they never asked which one, or if first or second jab.

I felt silly asking and wondered if anyone knows why?

I’d guess it’s worth recording whether or not someone is wearing a mask as it may affect who needs to isolate if you test positive. Just a guess though!

Dentist here. Honestly not sure the reason why they've asked you. We treat every pt the same. We treat everyone as if they have heroes, Covid, HIV and hepatitis. We use universal precautions including single use items where possible, enhanced PPE and have ongoing standard operating procedures to make sure staff and patients are protected as much as possible.
At a guess, it could just be as simple as adding it to medical histories ( although we don't routinely enquire re other vaccines).
Perhaps it's a pilot study and there might be the possibility in future of using less PPE and reducing fallow times etc on those of lower risk, but I've not heard of anything concrete yet.
It won't be to do with spare doses of vaccines. Whilst dentists are doing vaccines, it's not taking place in a dental setting. Dentists carry out the vaccines at the major hubs alongside other hcps.

No Lurker101 I had the coil done privately as the NHS have suspended coil fittings at the moment.

@Fucket

Ok, but when I went for my coil fitting no one asked my vaccination status, and I assume that being quite intimately involved with a patient from the other end may also carry a risk of catching covid for the doctor?

I couldn’t find anything about Covid in your fanjo, so so speak, but testicles might be a different story: www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/04/30/what-do-testicles-have-to-do-with-covid-19-coronavirus/?sh=1fedef921690

Oh didn’t look hard enough
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7323140/