Guidelines issued for dentists

Guidelines issued for dentists

Union Health Ministry says clinics will remain closed in containment zones

20/05/2020,

 BINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN ,NEW DELHI

Exercising caution:

 Patients have been asked to seek ambulance services to go to COVID-19 dental facilities. AFP

The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday issued unified guidelines for dental professionals, warning that some patients making visits may be asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19. It emphasised that all those visiting a dental office must be treated with due precautions.

Viral load

“Most dental procedures require close contact with the patient’s oral cavity, saliva, blood, and respiratory tract secretions, and saliva is rich in COVID-19 viral load. Hence all urgent procedures should be undertaken only after consultation, tele-triage, consent, and through pre-fixed appointments only”, the Ministry noted.

It said dental clinics would remain closed in the containment zones. However, they could continue to provide tele-triage.

Patients in this zone could seek ambulance services to travel to the nearest COVID-19 dental facility.

“In the red zone, emergency dental procedures can be performed, while the dental clinics in orange/green zones will function to provide consults. Dental operations should be restricted to emergency and urgent treatment procedures only,’’ stated the Ministry.

Risk of cross-infection

In the current pandemic, dentists, auxiliaries as well as patients undergoing dental procedures were at high risk of cross-infection. All routine and elective dental procedures should be deferred for a later review until new policy/guidelines were issued.

Due to the high risk associated with the examination of the oral cavity, oral cancer screening under National Cancer Screening programme should also be deferred.