The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have updated their Interim Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for Dental Settings During the COVID-19 Response with guidance for resuming non-emergency dental care during the pandemic.
These updates include expanded recommendations for providing dental care to patients with COVID-19 and without COVID-19, as well as new information regarding patient management; administrative, engineering, and work practice controls; sterilization and disinfection; and considerations for the use of test-based strategies to inform patient care.
Dental healthcare personnel should apply the updated interim guidance as well as the guidance found in the Framework for Healthcare Systems Providing Non-COVID-19 Clinical Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic as they determine how and when to resume non-emergency dental care, the CDC said.
Dental settings should balance the need to provide necessary services while minimizing risk to patients and dental healthcare personnel, the CDC said. Dental healthcare personnel should stay informed and regularly consult with their state or local health department for region-specific information and recommendations, the CDC said.
Also, dental healthcare personnel should monitor trends in local case counts and deaths, especially for populations at higher risk of severe illness, the CDC added. Dental healthcare personnel are licensed by their state regulatory body and should practice according to their state dental practice acts or other relevant regulations, the CDC said.
Interim guidance is based on what is currently known about the transmission and severity of COVID-19, the CDC said. Up-to-date information about infection prevention and control practices is available on the CDC’s COVID-19 page, the CDC said, and it guidance will be updated as additional information becomes available.
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