A South Dakota dentist had to shut down all dental locations and laid off all but three employees, but is still seeing emergency patients, according to KOTA TV.
"I've never seen anything like this before, where I just couldn't work at all," Chad Carpenter, DDS, of Rapid City, S.D.-based Carpenter Dental, told KOTA TV. The dentist has been treating patients in Rapid City for 15 years.
Carpenter Dental has been closed since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Carpenter is only seeing patients with uncontrolled bleeding, severe swelling or high levels of pain. Last week, the dentist treated three patients.
Thirty-six employees were laid off, and Dr. Carpenter said he thinks June 1 would be the earliest date for reopening.