Dental Treatment

Health and welfare is important as is dental care
Dental practices should be allowed to reopen
with full ppe for the staff to enable the treatment of emergency “pain relief” cases
this can be by extraction or necessary pain relief
missing teeth can be replaced in the short term with dentures
this will enable the dental labs who rely on this work and the dentists of which this is a major part of their income, be able to generate some much needed cashflow to pump into the economy and to help stabilise this small but very important health care profession

Why the contribution is important

Dental pain is one of the worst types of pain
if teeth are removed then the supply of dentures can aid in the patients well being and dignity
and to allow them to eat correctly

by tech65 on May 09, 2020 at 03:59PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.8
Based on: 18 votes

Comments

  • Posted by FlufflyClouds3 May 09, 2020 at 20:22

    This is one of those difficult ones. Dentists, as they're right up by your mouth and getting a faceful of anything you're infected by, are at huge risk. Maybe not from you, but can you say the last person in didn't have it?
      And then the dentist wouldn't get any symptoms at all for a fortnight. And then they might not even get any at all.
      That said, this idea is better than most of the dumb appeals to "But I'm being minorly inconvenienced/ can't stand my kids and want the schools to look after them" that you see on here, so kudos for actually thinking things through.
      Dentists ARE healthcare workers, but due to the semi-privatised nature of dental work, this'll probably be hard to implement in practice, though it could probably still be done. The main issue si that there is already not enough PPE to go around, so people do need to prioritise.
      And I say this as someone who's had a presistant toothache for the last week, so I very much wish I could get that dealt with. BUT the problem is that this is a global emergency. I do wish that what you suggest would happen, but getting those medical staff working ICU and A&E some PPE is a higher priority.

  • Posted by tech65 May 09, 2020 at 21:43

    thanks for this comment
    I did put the proviso of relevant PPE
    and am aware of shortages
    I hope you can persevere with your toothache

  • Posted by Arete May 10, 2020 at 04:25

    Oh, this one is about as hard a dilemma as it can get, and I sympathise enormously. I think emergency treatment should be allowed, with all possible precautions taken. (I would be surprised though if this wasn't already possible.)

    A similar argument might apply to eye testing, for example, since that can detect possible underlying problems as well as improving the quality of life. But for that one like many other such we'll just have to sit it out, alas.
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