COVID-19 Update: AGP and PPE in the dental office
Despite ongoing discussion with our colleagues at the College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario CDHO, there continue to be differences in guidance between our Colleges around aerosol-generating procedures (AGP) and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
As before, we believe that the RCDSO’s current guidance, COVID-19: Managing infection risks during in-person dental care, provides dentists with the direction they need to safely provide essential and non-essential oral health care. Our guidance will be amended as needed to align with any new advice from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
In the meantime, we suggest two possible options to try to reconcile differences in approaches in the dental office between dentists and hygienists:
- if dentists have a sufficient supply, they may wish to provide N95 or equivalent masks to hygienists, or
- if dentists cannot get sufficient supply, they may wish to ask hygienists to provide services without AGP.
We understand labour and employment issues may arise as a result in the different views of our two Colleges. The RCDSO cannot provide legal advice on such issues. You should always seek appropriate legal counsel when needed.
It is our hope that further advice from the CMOH will resolve these differences. We remain committed to a positive and productive dialogue on this issue. For now, we understand that many offices have already adopted one of the options above until adequate supplies of PPE are made available.