COVID-19: Amended Guidance on managing infection risks during in-person dental care

The Chief Medical Officer of Health issued a new Directive #2 on May 26. As a result, dentists are now permitted to provide in-person care for all deferred, non-essential, and elective services, in addition to emergency and urgent care.

The College has revised its Guidance on managing infection risks during in-person dental care. 

Note: our FAQs and some other documents are in the process of being revised to match this guidance. Please be patient if they are temporarily offline. If in doubt, please contact practiceadvisory@rcdso.org.

Key changes include:

• New principles in Section 2, Providing Dental Care, to assist dentists in making decisions about how to triage and manage patient care.
• How dental care should be provided will be different if a patient has screened or tested COVID-19 negative or COVID-19 positive.
• Table 1, which sets out the required PPE by setting and procedure, now makes separate recommendations depending on whether the patient has screened or tested positive for COVID-19.
• Previous guidance for aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs), including the specific requirement to carry out AGPs in operatories with floor to ceiling walls, now apply only when performing AGPs on patients who have screened or tested positive for COVID-19.

The College reminds you that the Chief Medical Officer of Health’s directives may change at any time; College guidance will be amended as needed. For more information on the CMOH’s directive, see COVID-19 Operational Requirements: Health Sector Restart.