Covid-19 Update

A message from Dr. Murray:

The College of Dental Surgeons of BC (CDSBC), our regulatory body, has issued a directive that it “strongly recommends“ all dental offices in BC cease any elective or non-essential treatment. This means that only emergency treatment will be provided until further notice. The definition of a dental emergency is uncontrolled bleeding, pain or infection. Because dental treatment generates aerosols which can easily spread the Covid virus treatment can only safely be performed with proper PPE (personal protective equipment) including fitted N95 masks, face shields and body drapes. However, this PPE is essential for hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients and understandably is not available to dental offices at this time. Therefore, dentistry across the province has been primarily reduced to phone in services only as performing any treatment without this equipment risks infecting our team and subsequently, infecting other patients we treat. Delivery of treatment has been further complicated by the necessity to eliminate all aerosols meaning no handpieces (drills), no suction or air-water syringes (visibility). We’ve been restricted from using all of our everyday tools to treat anyone. It’s an unacceptable risk to endanger anyone without PPE or with the generation of aerosols. Recently the BCDA and local specialists have managed to set up a dental emergency centre in Kamloops which is accessed through a screening and referral process from the general practitioners’ offices. As this centre operates under special conditions for both patient and caregiver safety and is manned by a limited team it will only be able to treat the most severe cases not treatable in a regular dental practice.

Rest assured I will be available by phone to provide advice on how to handle concerns and prescribe medications if appropriate. I understand this may result in some inconvenience and discomfort for longer than I would choose for anyone. However, these are unprecedented times and we must all try to live within the bounds the health authorities have given us to prevent further spread of Covid and keep our population safe.

Further if you have a dental concern do NOT call the hospital or visit the emergency room as you’ll be endangering yourself with infection and will be hampering the medical team trying to protect lives. Please call Dr. Murray at 250-851-1148 and I will do my best to help. As we’ve witnessed this situation is constantly evolving and as your healthcare provider, I’ll do my best to keep you informed in the days ahead. Please follow the instructions of our Health Authority, take appropriate precautions and stay healthy! Our office looks forward to getting back to work as soon as it safe to do so and take care of your dental needs in the future.

Regards,
Dr. Maureen Murray