In this episode of the Becoming a Doctor Series, Lucy and Ciara interview Dr Priya Chohan (above) who is a full-time Dentist and Vice President of Leadership at Medic Mentor. She answers challenging questions about how dentists are delivering care for patients during the COVID-19 outbreak. She sheds lights on the approaches that healthcare professionals are taking and how it differs to the every day delivery of care.
Dr Chohan is a Vice President, who sits on the Education Directorate (central committee) at Medic Mentor. She oversees the Medical Leadership Programme alongside Dr Coldicutt and Dr Chien.
If you have enjoyed this podcast please post your questions and comments below. You might even get a special mention in future podcasts!
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Dr Siva said there’s 10 episodes. There’s only 6.
Hi Harr
There are only 8 episode hun not 10 and they are all live now! You might need to refresh your browser to see them. Enjoy!
BW
Dr Siva
Dr Siva the latest one is where did dentists go. That’s 6. I’ve refreshed.
Hiya Harr! Lucy here – one of your podcast hosts! We are just in the process of uploading the blog posts for the next episodes so you can all start commenting. If you’re really an eager beaver and want to get all the latest episodes now make sure you follow the podcast on Spotify where all the episodes are: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XS9SvX83RMsz3TTf4cuOs?si=Tl1eiULqQre_KGGkE6-iTQ
Next please do interview coronavirus questions or any interview Questions please, that would be great thanks. And also answers
Hi everyone
Hope you are enjoying listening to the podcast with Dr Chohan. It is really important to look at how dentistry has been affected by this pandemic.
If you have any questions or talking points please post them here and we can discuss!
are patients still being seen at general private/ NHSpractices eg. for more severe dental problems? or is it currently only emergency dental care within a hospital setting due to COVID-19?
Thanks for your question T.
So in response to the COVID pandemic all routine dental service has been stopped. As a consequence regional teams have worked really hard to establish what are known as Urgent Dental Care (UDC) Hubs. This is where patients will be referred to if there issue is deemed urgent enough. There are two types – cold sites, for treating patients not suspected of having COVID-19 and – hot sites for those with COVID-19. These hubs can be a practice within the area or a dental hospital. It all depends on where the patient lives. The hubs will have been given the PPE they require to treat these patients.
Thanks, Dr Uppal, so does this mean that even the virtual consultations via video link, wouldn’t be at general practices just solely at these UDC hubs?
Also within dentistry since the use of PPE ie. gloves, makes, shields etc was common practice already, what actual changes to the levels of PPE have been made?
Would dentists or just dental nurses be redeployed to district nursing? How are Dentists who arent working due to routine dental service being stopped being supported during this time?
in the UDC hubs are there general practice dentists along with Hospital dentists or is it those who already work in a hospital setting?
Hi T
The triaging service differs from area to area and between practices but this is the basic process:
So if you were a patient with a dental problem you would phone your dentist as normal. There will be a member of that dental team (likely a dental nurse) within the practice, that is triaging the telephone calls based on urgency. Anyone that is deemed to require further triaging is sent through to another member of the dental team, likely a dentist at this point. The dentist will determine whether your dental problem can be sorted out by a combination of advice, analgesia +/- antibiotics. If they deem that your case is more urgent then they will refer you to a UDC where you will have a face to face consultation and may receive treatment. At this point the aim is to avoid as much treatment as possible, as COVID is an airborne virus and dentistry is known for creating aerosols through drilling etc, so this puts staff and patients at high risk.
You are correct that stringent PPE is common practice in dental practices, however with COVID there is extra precaution. As I explained above, dentists create a lot of aerosol through drilling, therefore if such a procedure is deemed necessary on a patient at this time then the dental team treating that patient would have to wear enhanced PPE in the form of a fluid resistant gown, FFP3 mask, visor and gloves. Of course like other healthcare services there have been issues with acquiring the correct PPE to ensure service provision continues.
There have been instances of dental staff being redeployed within the wider healthcare system from district nurses to helping in hospitals such as the Nightingale.
All of the dental team should be working at this time (unless isolating, shielding or they have been furloughed). Through commitment from the commissioning teams (teams in NHS England that pay for NHS dentistry) the dental staff are continuing to be paid.
The UDC hubs are a combination of practice and hospital dentists.
Hope this is helpful. Glad to see you asking really important questions about this.
Thank you so much this has really helped me understand the current situation better and thank you for all the work you and your colleagues are during this time!
Im glad that there has been something specifically for dentistry on here and I hope this kind of thing continues!
I Look forward to future sessions
kind regards.