Hyderabad: Dental care makes headway amidst Covid crisis

Sector looks-up as standardised Covid safety protocols put in place

Hyderabad: The Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown had a huge impact on the dental healthcare services in Hyderabad. During the lockdown period of May and later, 80 per cent to 90 per cent of dental care facilities in the State were shut-down. The remaining few facilities that did manage to function, ended up providing only emergency care, while elective surgeries had to be postponed.

As researchers and doctors learned more about SARS-CoV-2 and safety guidelines for providing safe dental healthcare were framed, the sector now has started to look-up, although challenges continue to persist. Given the fact that the main source of transmission for Covid-19 is through droplet infection, senior dental surgeons in Hyderabad sense hesitation among patients to visit a dental clinic.

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“Almost all dental clinics in Hyderabad have adopted stringent Covid-19 safety guidelines to provide treatment. This in itself should be of great reassurance to patients. We have come across instances of healthcare workers in Covid and non-Covid hospitals testing positive but not many such instances have come from dental clinics,” said Dr A Srikanth, Secretary, IDA, Deccan.

At present, the outpatient and inpatient services in all the dental healthcare facilities in the city are up and running. Through consistent training to its members, various branches of Indian Dental Association (IDA) have managed to standardise Covid-19 safety protocols.

Due to financial and logistical limitations, it is not possible to conduct or offer Covid-19 test to every patient who walks-in into a dental clinic. However, they must subject themselves to stringent checks including temperature, travel history, oxygen saturation tests, heart rate monitoring and sign a declaration form about their health status.

“If all these vital parameters are stable, then patients are given treatment and in case there is a change or deviation, patients are asked to come-back after 14 days. The health care workers at dental clinics do not interact with patients without a PPE kit and other safety equipment,” said Dr Srikanth.

Another significant measure that has helped dental clinics to stay afloat during the Covid crisis is the Central Government’s decision to classify dental health care facilities as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The classification has enabled dental practitioners who run single-chair and double-chair dental clinics to access finance and attractive interests. The move has enabled them to avail other benefits that were granted to MSMEs by the Union government after the lockdown was lifted.

So will the cost incurred by dental clinics to upgrade skill sets, implement safety guidelines and availing loans, passed onto patients? “I don’t think dental clinics in Hyderabad will significantly hike cost of their services. Even if they raise costs, it will be negligible. Majority of dental clinics have a loyal clientele and doctors can’t afford to implement steep hikes,” Dr Srikanth pointed.

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