Here is our sixth special SDG Dispatch communication regarding the current virus situation.
Singapore has officially started implementation of circuit breaker (aka enhanced safe distancing) measures to encourage everyone to stay home as much as possible to prevent further local transmission. This period (7 April – 1 June 2020) is extremely crucial in our fight against the virus. What does this mean for patients seeking dental treatment?
Q: Are dental clinics still receiving patients?
Yes, dental clinics are open during this period as we are providing essential services. However, during this time, the focus of dental practitioners is to provide urgent/emergency dental treatment. This means that dental treatment that require immediate or timely attention to:
- relieve severe pain, risk of infection
- prevent significant deterioration of the patient’s oral/general health.
All other elective dental procedures should be rescheduled to a later time.
Q: What symptoms should I come to the clinic for?
If you are feeling any discomfort/pain or experiencing any bleeding/swelling, do contact your respective dental clinics for an appointment as soon as possible. A dental specialist / dentist will be able to attend to your needs.
Q: Is it safe for me to go to a dental clinic still?
Yes, it is safe. At Specialist Dental Group, we implement the following as the safety of patients and team members is our priority:
1) Thorough screening measures to ensure all patients/visitors who enter are well, including temperature taking. Those feeling unwell or showing respiratory symptoms will be redirected to our medical colleagues.
2) Equipped with thorough protection equipment for the management of viral spread from aerosol generating procedures
3) High standards of disinfection are carried out as each patient enters the clinic and after each dental procedure.
4) Adequate physical distancing between each patient in the waiting area.
Q: If dental clinics are safe, why are such drastic measures of distancing required?
The main goal of the circuit breaker measures implemented by the Singapore government is to keep as many people at home as possible, to reduce physical social interaction to the minimum. Many of the instances of spread are not likely to happen in the clinic but can happen when patients leave their homes to travel to the clinics or when they encounter other people in the vicinity. In order to protect the well-being of our patients, we are fully aligned to the government’s recommendations to keep dental procedures to those that require urgent/emergency treatment only.
The good news is that if everyone adheres strictly to the measures implemented and stay at home as much as they can, we are hopeful that it will help to significantly reduce the number of local transmission cases in Singapore.
