According to the Prime Minister’s statement, announced on 21 April, the level 2 restrictions are to come into effect from 27 April 2020.
The following system is designed based on published triaging systems in Australia for Dentistry.
Provision of dental treatments that are unlikely to generate aerosols or where aerosols generated have the presence of minimal saliva/blood due to the use of rubber dam. This includes:
- Examinations
- Simple non-invasive fillings without use of high-speed handpieces
- Restorative procedures using high speed handpieces only provided with the use of rubber dam
- Non-surgical extractions
- Hand scaling (no use of ultrasonic scalers)
- Medical management of soft tissue presentations (such as ulcers)
- Temporomandibular dysfunction management
- Denture procedures
- Preventative procedures such as the application of topical remineralising agents e.g. fluoride
- Orthodontic treatment
Defer all treatments that are likely to generate aerosols which may include the use of
- high-speed handpieces without the use of rubber dam
- ultrasonic scalers
- surgical handpieces
All surgical extractions should be referred to specialist oral surgeons/oral and maxillofacial surgeons who will undertake these procedures using transmission based precautions.
Elective implant dental treatment should be delayed.
Urgent dental treatment for people who DO meet epidemiological or clinical symptom criteria for COVID-19 risk or confirmed as a COVID-19 case, provided as per ADA Managing COVID-19 Guidelines.
Check www.health.gov.au or your local state/territory health department’s website.
Source: Dental Board of Australia