Letters to the Editor

Is it not time that all patients accepted for treatment within dental practice are tested for the virus?

The closure of practices occurred because of the high risk of transmission posed. This was before a test for COVID-19 was available. Practices have been given the green light to open for treatment of emergencies in Scotland with reliance on clinical screening of patients, PPE and deep cleaning between patients. If an infectious patient is unwittingly treated in practice these measures will not remove the risk of transmission/cross infection but can only reduce the risk. The propensity for PPE failure, slips and human errors in allowing this invisible foe to breach defences are ever present. The only guarantee when applying these protocols is that your practice will run at a loss.

We should be attempting to keep infective cases out of general practice and, with so many tests now being under-utilized, it would seem good sense to use them to test emergency dental patients. If they come back with a positive then treatment could be deferred, if humanely possible, or the patient referred to a dedicated secondary care facility. If you agree with me please consider doing what I did and contact your MP. I haven't got a reply yet but, as we have seen, generally (with 1 or 2 notable exceptions) our politicians are trying to be sensitive to the electorate's wishes. Or to put it another way ‘He who shouts loudest gets’.