The CDO for Northern Island has revealed steppingstones for the dental profession to return to work

The acting Chief Dental Officer (CDO) for Northern Island, Michael Donaldson, has revealed plans for dental professionals to return to work. Several steppingstones have been implemented into the program to enable the profession to get back up and running over the next few months.

The outcome depends on multiple factors, including the availability of sufficient PPE, the size of the health service to answer to increased COVID-19 cases, the severity and prevalence of unmet oral health needs in the community and the essential epidemiological metrics for COVID-19.

Phase one-part A is the current phase where dental teams are restricted to providing non-AGPs to patients with no COVID-19 symptoms. Secondly, phase one-part B will take place on June 8, where some practices can offer face-to-face urgent dental care. Phase two will consist of practices being able to carry out non-urgent dental care; however, treatments will be limited to non-AGPs. Finally, step three will involve routine care starting to be offered, alongside AGPs in general dental practices.

The CDO has stated that it won’t hold back if restrictions need to be tightened again.

Donaldson stated: “While it has been absolutely necessary to limit the number of patients seen in general dental practice in order to minimise the risk of coronavirus transmission, this has unfortunately meant that there are a significant and growing number of patients with pressing oral health needs. A balance must be struck between protecting patients, dental staff and the public from the risk of acquiring the virus.”