What will visits to the dentist look like as Covid-19 restrictions begin to lift in British Columbia?
The former President of the Canadian Dental Associaton says appointments will likely continue as normal, but patients will be assessed and triaged by need.
Dentists have been performing emergency services throughout the pandemic, but regular appointments won’t be back on the table until at least May 19th, says Alistair Nicholl.
“As we move forward, this is really an extension of what we’ve already been doing, but we really don’t know what it’s going to look like yet,” he explained.
“I would assume it’s going to be gradual, it’s going to be incremental and it’s going to be staged.”
However, Covid-19 is not the first challenge dentists have faced, he stresses.
“[We] have been dealing with the potential for infection in dental offices forever,”
“You’d only have to go back to HIV, to Hepatitis B, to Hepatitis C, that we have these precautions in place to make sure that if a patient has one of these conditions it cannot be transmitted to staff or any other patients, so some of that needs a little bit of tweaking.”
Traditionally, a patient dealing with a respiratory illness would be rescheduled, but because sometimes people with Covid-19 don’t have symptoms, it makes things more difficult.
A regular appointment will also have a few changes, with the waiting room adapted to comply with physical distancing requirements with fewer chairs spaced farther apart.
“The first thing that will happen is screening on the telephone, just to make sure the person doesn’t have a respiratory tract infection at the time of the intended appointment,” explained Nicholl.
“When they come to the office, the appointments will be staggered in such a way that a whole bunch of people are not meeting together in the waiting room.”
In addition, financial and insurance information will likely be taken over the phone, and plexiglass screens installed in offices as well.
“Once in there, the dentist or hygenist will probably be wearing a gown and face shields,” he said.
“This is a disease that is primarily spread through droplets or by surface contamination and we are, of course, surfaces.”
The extra precautions shouldn’t keep people from seeking help when they need it, says Nicholl.
“Routine checkups will be fine, there will be plenty of room to do those. Any treatment that needs to be done will be done in order of urgency,”
“So somebody who has active decay that might deteriorate into a root canal, or a crown or even extraction if left, that should be done. A patient who has gum disease and who typically has their teeth cleaned every three months to manage it, that should continue.”
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
