Dentistry and the Coronavirus – Do we do things differently?

No

Dentistry is practiced the same as it always has… we assume everyone who walks in through the door has a terrible communicable disease. We always wash our hands between patients and we all wear masks and gloves.

Please note the filtration abilities of a mask begin to decline with moisture on the inner and outer surfaces of the mask after approximately 20 mins. This is because of the moisture of a person’s breath wearing the mask.

Therefore, the masks are single-use only.

Re-use puts the dentist and staff at risk of airborne aerosols and a number of potential diseases which can be transmitted via the airborne route. (Mind you prolonged use of a mask by the general public renders the mask as a useless protection.)

This is to ensure we do not cross contaminate between the patient, the dentist and the staff.

The practice continues to maintain high infection control standards with regards to cleaning, sterilising and storage of instruments. This also includes cleaning and disinfecting the surgery between patients.

This is to prevent cross-contamination between all patients, past present and future.

Note to the public and staff to prevent cross contamination and self-contamination:

• Observe standard hygiene precautions including regular washing of hands (5 moments) – soap and water is usually enough. If it’s too harsh then you run the risk of getting dermatitis of the hands! This will make you more prone to diseases!
• Minimising touch with others.
• No face touching
• Coughing and sneezing into elbows -DO NOT COUGH OR SNEEZE INTO HANDS OR PAPER TISSUES

 Managing suspected cases of COVID-19

It is not a requirement for dental practices to test or diagnose potential cases of COVID-19.