Dental clinics are offering emergency procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: Bill Pershing
After the province of Alberta declared a state of public health emergency on March 17, two campus dental clinics stepped up to offer emergency care, with a mandate to help prevent anyone with dental emergencies from ending up in potentially overcrowded hospital emergency departments.
The School of Dentistry Oral Health Clinic has remained open to provide emergency patient care to existing patients two days per week. Meanwhile, the six staff dentists and clinical and administrative team at the University of Alberta Hospital Dental Clinic-aided by dental residents-are seeing up to 18 patients every day, seven days a week, and offering telephone consultations to many more. The team, proudly led by Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry clinical professor of dentistry Bill Preshing, have shown great dedication and commitment to patient care.