Current Clinical Dental Practice Guidelines and the Financial Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Care Providers

Saqib Ali; Imran Farooq; Maha Abdelsalam; Jehan AlHumaid

doi:10.1055/s-0040-1716307

European Journal of Dentistry, Table of Contents

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Eur J Dent 2020; 14(S 01): S140-S145
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1716307

Review Article

Current Clinical Dental Practice Guidelines and the Financial Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Care Providers

Saqib Ali

¹Department of Biomedical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

,

Imran Farooq

¹Department of Biomedical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

,

Maha Abdelsalam

¹Department of Biomedical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

,

Jehan AlHumaid

²Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been acknowledged as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The aim of this study was to review guidelines issued by different health regulatory bodies amid the COVID-19 outbreak and financial constraints faced by dentists globally. Relevant papers and news articles were identified in Google Scholar and PubMed. The search was made using the keywords “COVID-19,” “COVID-19 and dentistry,” and “the financial impact of COVID-19 on dentistry.” Studies and news articles published in languages other than English were excluded and a final selection of 53 relevant studies, guideline documents, and news articles were made. The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected all businesses including general dental practices, which are suffering huge financial losses as they have been advised to provide only emergency dental care. These recommendations should be appreciated as a positive step but they have caused serious financial implications for dental practices. It can be concluded that current dental practice globally is limited to the provision of emergency treatments only. This step is appreciative, but has resulted in huge financial losses sustained by dental care providers (DCPs) worldwide. The governments and health regulatory bodies of developed countries are trying to help dental practices to evolve from this troublesome situation, but there is no visible policy from the underdeveloped world that could help the DCPs to save their practices from closing down due to the financial constraints.

Keywords

COVID-19 - infection - general dental practices - dentistry

Full Text

References

References
1 Ali S, Noreen S, Farooq I, Bugshan A, Vohra F. Risk assessment of healthcare workers at the frontline against COVID-19. Pak J Med Sci 2020; 36 (COVID19-S4) S99-S103
2 Hamid H, Khurshid Z, Adanir N, Zafar MS, Zohaib S. COVID-19 pandemic and role of human saliva as a testing biofluid in point-of-care technology 2020. Eur J Dent 2020;14(suppl S1):S123–S129 doi:10.1055/s-0040-1713020
3 Ather A, Patel B, Ruparel NB, Diogenes A, Hargreaves KM. Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19): implications for clinical dental care. J Endod 2020; 46 (05) 584-595
4 Wax RS, Christian MD. Practical recommendations for critical care and anesthesiology teams caring for novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) patients. Can J Anaesth 2020; 67 (05) 568-576
5 Wu Y, Ho W, Huang Y, et al. SARS-CoV-2 is an appropriate name for the new coronavirus. Lancet 2020;395(10228):949-950 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30557-2
6 Paules CI, Marston HD, Fauci AS. Coronavirus infections—more than just the common cold. JAMA 2020; 323 (08) 707-708
7 Casadevall A, Pirofski LA. The convalescent sera option for containing COVID-19. J Clin Invest 2020; 130 (04) 1545-1548
8 Al-Hallak KR, Nassani MZ, Heskul MM, Doumani MD, Darwish M. Reasons for choosing dentistry as a career among dental students in Saudi Arabia. Eur J Dent 2018; 12 (02) 275-280
9 Ahmed MA, Jouhar R, Ahmed N. et al. Fear and practice modifications among dentists to combat novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020; 17 (08) 2821
10 Ioannidis JPA. Coronavirus disease 2019: the harms of exaggerated information and non-evidence-based measures. Eur J Clin Invest 2020; 50 (04) e13222
11 Li ZY, Meng LY. The prevention and control of a new coronavirus infection in department of stomatology [in Chinese]. Zhonghua Kou Qiang Yi Xue Za Zhi 2020; 55 (00) E001
12 Meng L, Hua F, Bian Z. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): emerging and future challenges for dental and oral medicine. J Dent Res 2020; 99 (05) 481-487
13 American Dental Association. Available at: https://www.ada.org/en/press-room/news-releases/2020-archives/march/ada-calls-upon-dentists-to-postpone-elective-procedures. Accessed May 20, 2020
14 ADA.org. What constitutes a dental emergency? Available at: https://success.ada.org/~/media/CPS/Files/Open%20Files/ADA_COVID19_Dental_Emergency_DDS.pdf. Accessed June 4, 2020
15 American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Available at: https://www.aapd.org/about/about-aapd/news-room/covid-19/. Accessed June 4, 2020
16 American Academy of Peridontology. Available at: https://www.perio.org/members/COVID-19. Accessed June 4, 2020
17 American College of Prosthodontists. Available at: https://www.prosthodontics.org/covid-19/. Accessed June 4, 2020
18 American Association of Orthodontists. COVID resources for Orthodontists. Available at: https://www1.aaoinfo.org/covid-19/. Accessed June 4, 2020
19 AAOMS. COVID-19 updates. Available at: https://www.aaoms.org/news/covid-19-updates. Accessed June 4, 2020
20 American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology. Available at: https://www.aaomr.org/. Accessed June 4, 2020
21 American Association of Public Health Dentistry. Available at: https://aaphd.memberclicks.net/covid-19-resources. Accessed June 4, 2020
22 The American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology. Available at: http://www.aaomp.org/. Accessed June 4, 2020
23 American Association of Endodontists. Available at: https://www.aae.org/specialty/clinical-resources/covid-19-updates-resources/. Accessed June 4, 2020
24 General Council of Dentists, Spain. Available at: https://www.consejodentistas.es/comunicacion/actualidad-consejo/notas-de-prensa-consejo/item/1739-recomendaciones-de-buenas-practicas-para-la-atencion-de-urgencias.html. Accessed June 4, 2020
25 National Health Services, UK. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/primary-care/dental-practice Accessed June 4, 2020.
26 NHS Dental Services. Available at: https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/covid-19/ocdo-scotland-letter.pdf?sfvrsn=bf8fdcef_2. Accessed June 4, 2020
27 General Dental Council, UK. Available at: https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/covid-19/amber-alert-wales.pdf?sfvrsn=ad3d71b1_2. Accessed June 4, 2020
28 Business Service Organization. Available at: http://www.hscbusiness.hscni.net/pdf/COVID%2019%20Further%20Advice%20for%20DCPs.pdf. Accessed June 5, 2020
29 Saudi Patient Safety Center. Available at: https://spsc.gov.sa/English/PublishingImages/Pages/guidelines/guideline7apr.pdf. Accessed June 5, 2020
30 Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. Available at: https://www.moh.gov.sa/Pages/Default.aspx. Accessed June 5, 2020
31 Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario. Available at: https://www.rcdso.org/en-ca/rcdso-members/dispatch-magazine/articles/5286. Accessed June 5, 2020
32 Alberta Dental Association and College, Canada. Available at: https://www.dentalhealthalberta.ca/information-about- novel-coronavirus-covid-19-for-dental-patients-and-practitioners/. Accessed June 5, 2020
33 College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia. Available at: https://www.cdsbc.org/Pages/covid-19-faq.aspx. Accessed June 6, 2020
34 Indian Dental Association. Available at: https://www.ida.org.in/pdf/20200317_Advisory_on_Corona.pdf. Accessed June 6, 2020
35 Asociación Odontológica Argentina. Available at: https://www.aoa.org.ar/coronavirus-nuevas-recomendaciones-de-la-oms-para-profesionales-de-la-salud/. Accessed June 6, 2020
36 ABS-CBN Corporation. Available at: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/18/20/dentists-issue-guidelines-to-avoid-covid-19-spread. Accessed June 6, 2020
37 Ministry of Health. Available at: https://dcnz.org.nz/assets/Uploads/COVID/Guidelines-at-Alert-Level-4-updated-31Mar20.pdf. Accessed June 6, 2020
38 NHRA Bahrain. Available at: https://www.nhra.bh/Media/Announcement/MediaHandler/GenericHandler/documents/Announcements/Announcement2020_Circular%20No.%20(15)%202020_To%20All%20Private%20Healthcare%20Facilities_Temporary%20Suspension%20of%20Services%20and%20Unnecessary%20Medical%20Procedures%20(Arabic)_20200326.pdf. Accessed June 6, 2020
39 Dubai Health Authority. Available at: https://services.dha.gov.ae/sheryan/wps/portal/home/circular-details?circularRefNo=CIR-2020-00000108&isPublicCircular=1&fromHome=true. Accessed June 6, 2020
40 The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/15/business/economy/coronavirus-worker-risk.html. Accessed June 7, 2020
41 IDA Irish Dental Association. Available at: http://irishdentalassociation.newsweaver.com/newsletter/13ctcsav7cz1cys22xtzj2?a=1&p=56657247&t=22322575. Accessed June 7, 2020
42 British Dental Association. Available at: https://bda.org/advice/Coronavirus/Pages/latest-updates.aspx. Accessed June 7, 2020
43 The Salt Lake Tribune. Available at: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/03/17/some-utah-dentists-are/. Accessed June 7, 2020
44 Dental Tribune. Available at: https://us.dental-tribune.com/news/dentists-report-financial-impact-of-covid-19-on-their-practices/. Accessed July 7, 2020
45 Student Loan Planner. Available at: https://www.studentloanplanner.com/dentists-financial-crisis-coronavirus/. Accessed July 7, 2020
46 Schwendicke F, Krois J, Gomez J. Impact of SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) on dental practices: Economic analysis. J Dent 2020; 99: 103387
47 Government of Canada. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2020/03/canadas-covid-19-economic-response-plan-support-for-canadians-and-businesses.html. Accessed July 7, 2020
48 Dentistry magazine. Available at: https://www.dentistry.co.uk/2020/03/19/coronavirus-financial-impact-dentistry/. Accessed July 7, 2020
49 ADA Center for Professional Success. Available at: https://success.ada.org/en/practice-management/patients/coronavirus-frequently-asked-questions. Accessed July 7, 2020
50 Irish Dental Association. Available at: http://irishdentalassociation.newsweaver.com/newsletter/40uglfzc4qy1cys22xtzj2?a=1&p=56657247&t=22322575. Accessed July 7, 2020
51 Microfinance Irelnad. Available at: https://microfinanceireland.ie/loan-packages/covid19/. Accessed July 7, 2020
52 Arabian Business. Available at: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/banking-finance/444303-saudi-government-to-cover-60-of-private-sector-salaries-hit-by-covid-19. Accessed July 7, 2020
53 Farooq I, Ali S. COVID-19 outbreak and its monetary implications for dental practices, hospitals and healthcare workers. Postgrad Med J 2020;96(1142):791-792