Richmond dentists are now only providing emergency treatment and services to patients as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across B.C.
After hearing reports of non-emergency appointments being cancelled or postponed, the Richmond News reached out to many local dental offices on Thursday and were told that dentists need to follow the rules to minimize the spread of COVID-19 to protect the health of patients and the broader community.
Staff at Dr. Zhang Dental Office, located across from Value Village in central Richmond, told the News that they need to cancel non-urgent bookings based on new rules from the College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia (CDSBC) - a regulatory body for dentists, dental therapists and certified dental assistants in B.C.
“We are only allowed to provide dental emergency services. Each clinic will set up a dental emergency contact, and all dentists are on-call.
“If something urgent comes up, doctors need to bring patients into their clinics. But we can’t allow a large number of patients gathering in the office at the same time.”
Emergency dental services includes a tooth infection or swelling, loose teeth and bleeding from the mouth.
“In some cases, patients need to take antibiotics for a tooth infection or bleeding, but they need to see a dentist before taking any medicine. We will ask the dentist to contact the patient, then decide if they need to be seen or not,” said the staff, adding that teeth cleaning and filling aren’t considered emergency services at the moment.
Another front-desk staff person at the Urban Dentist clinic, located beside WorkSafeBC, said all dental offices would close for two weeks following yesterday’s state of the emergency announcement. However, she was assigned to stay in the office to answer phone calls in case some patients panic because they are in pain.
“Normally, our offices are bustling during the spring break, but because of the coronavirus, we are booking patients off, so they can stay home and be safe. For us, patients come first.
“We’ve told our patients that we are here. If they have any questions, please believe in transparency over here. Whatever they ask, we are happy to help.”
The staff also added that while directing urgent patients to dentists, they’ve already rescheduled some non-emergency appointments, especially for the elderly who are more vulnerable to the disease.
However, many dentists are still unsure when their businesses will resume regular hours.
“When April comes, if we hear anything becomes worse, we will rebook each patient.”
For all the latest COVID-19 news, click here.
