A Message for Corporate Member Provincial Dental Associations

Below is a summary of the Canadian Dental Association’s (CDA) pandemic-related work-in-progress for the week ending April 3, 2020.

Advocacy Updates

CDA remains in direct contact with Federal Government departments about the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on dentists and their oral health teams.

Updated! CDA Roadmap for dentists and dental office employees on how to navigate and access federal relief funding:

• On April 1, 2020, the Federal Government unveiled subsequent information on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy for employers and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit for employees.
• CDA has amended its previous Roadmap to include key information about these programs for PDAs. The revised Roadmap was circulated to PDA Executive Directors on April 1, 2020. Here is the French language version.
• The Roadmap will form the basis of CDA’s ongoing initiatives to help dentists and their employees navigate the government’s financial support programs for workers and businesses in light of COVID-19 issues.

Other Important Updates

CDA Help Desk:

• CDA is urgently preparing its Help Desk staff to assist dentists and dental office employees to navigate and access federal government support programs. The service will be available in those CDA Member provinces that opt to use this service.
• Through the CDA Help Desk, dentists and dental office staff will obtain fast and accurate guidance for their questions about Federal Government programs that they or their staff may be entitled to.
• CDA has set-up a toll-free number (1-866-232-0385, M-F, 7:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. EDT), has developed a call-flow for Help Desk staff, and is creating a webpage on the COVID-19 section of the CDA website for more information about funding programs and where to access additional information.
• The CDA Help Desk service will be available to those PDAs who have opted to use it, beginning on Monday, April 6, 2020.
• PDAs are welcome to co-promote the CDA Help Desk service to their member dentists using this suggested wording. The French-language version of this document will be made available soon.

Teledentistry:

• At the Presidents and CEOs meeting held by video conference on March 31, 2020, a consensus was reached to use codes in sub-class, 05200, as an interim solution for the representation of teledentistry services in insurance claims.
• That decision has been communicated to CLHIA and CDA is currently awaiting feedback.
• BCDA has elected to only add service code 05201 to its fee guide and has provided additional information to its members on using this code through an “erratum” that was distributed on March 31.
• CDA has not heard from other PDAs about their intentions for implementing the decision reached by the PDA Presidents and CEOs in their fee guides.

Communication with CDHA:

• Both CDA and CDHA recognize these are times of high stress for the whole dental team. To facilitate consistent messaging, CDA and CDHA have agreed that we will make every effect to coordinate messaging that impacts the dental team.

Knowledge and Information Broker

• CDA Oasis is being employed by CDA as a primary channel of communication for delivering urgent information to the dental community during the pandemic. A nimble, online presence is crucial at this stage and CDA Oasis can curate, collate, produce and disseminate pertinent information, in short order.
• As such, CDA Oasis has been mobilized to produce a series of Video Interviews with members of the CDA Board and CDA’s COVID-19 Team. In addition to 3 videos produced by CDA Oasis last week, the following two videos have been produced this week:
  • Helping Dentists Access Federal Support Programs, featuring an interview with CDA President, Dr. Alexander (Sandy) Mutchmor; and
  • Lifting confusion Around N-95 Masks, featuring an interview with President Elect of NLDA, Dr. Michelle Zwicker.
• CDA Oasis is also working with some Corporate Member Provincial Dental Associations to prepare content that can answer their members’ questions.
• This week’s CDA Oasis Bulletin collated relevant and timely "news that you can use" related to COVID-19. The Bulletin also unveiled a new streamlined graphic design to help deliver important information to dentists who subscribe to this weekly email service.
• CDA Essentials magazine is continuing its content creation and production process at this time. Issue 2 of the magazine was recently completed and is available to read online. Issue 3 of the magazine is scheduled to be completed in May 2020.
• The Knowledge Networks department also compiles, curates and disseminates the CDA Media Monitor email on a daily basis. This communications tool has been re-formatted to focus on COVID-19 dentistry-related news in Canada and globally.

Donating PPE and other services:

• CDA has started receiving inquiries this week from long-term care (LTC) facilities that require donations of any PPEs, due to an ongoing shortage.
• Although the Federal Government has created a Buy and Sell portal to procure excess PPE from organizations (including dental offices) PDAs are encouraged to make their member dentists aware of other available donation avenues in your respective communities, and to communicate this more broadly, including on social media, if possible.

Scam Alert! Phishing Campaign Targeting Stimulus Package:

• The Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange advised CDA that a massive phishing campaign is underway targeting individuals who are seeking funds from the Canadian government’s stimulus package.
• Scammers are crafting fake government websites, sending emails and text messages to individuals to exploit prevalent fears and needs.
• The Federal Government is not sending text messages regarding the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit and is warning individuals that if you receive a text message regarding the benefit, to not click the link.
• Scammers will attempt to seek social insurance or banking information or try to trick victims to transfer upfront payments by claiming a small fee is required to process a COVID-19 benefit cheque.
• CDA encourages PDAs to remind dentists to be vigilant of such phishing campaigns as the consequences could include financial loss and identity theft.
• Tips to avoid scams:
  • verify emails with senders;
  • avoid clicking suspicious links in email; and
  • keep your software updated.

Mental Health and Wellness:

• COVID-19 has brought on financial pressures, unexpected challenges, unemployment, and very difficult situations for dentists, their families and their dental office employees.
• CDA is actively promoting available mental health and wellness support through CDSPI’s Members’ Assistance Program (MAP). MAP is a free counselling, referral and information service for dentists, current and laid off dental office staff members, and their families. Contact MAP at 1.844.578.4040 or visit www.workhealthlife.com.
• BCDA also has a Dentist Wellness Program available for member dentists and their families. PDAs are encouraged to share available mental health and wellness programs with dentists in their respective jurisdictions.
• A growing list of other available mental health and wellness resources is also available in CDA’s COVID-19 Repository. PDAs are encouraged to access the information and share resources, as deemed appropriate.

Grading of the Dental Aptitude Test:

• Grading the written portion of the Dental Aptitude Test (DAT), held on February 22, 2020, was not impacted by the business disruptions caused by COVID-19. A revised protocol for grading the Manual Dexterity Test, which included steps to ensure that scores awarded to this year’s test takers remained comparable to those of previous years, was implemented when in-person travel and grading in Ottawa was no longer possible.
• Candidates’ carved specimens have been shipped to our graders using a protocol that ensured the integrity of the grading process and while ensuring the safety of the graders.
• The DAT graders will complete their tasks at safe locations in their communities and will submit the results to CDA. The results will be processed and distributed as close as possible to the usual timeline.

CDA COVID-19 Resource Repository at a Glance:

New resources added!

CDA serves as an information repository for PDAs by collecting advice and available COVID-19 resources from external organizations and any sources that PDAs wish to share. The information is placed in the CDA COVID-19 Resource Repository and is exclusively available for use by the PDAs, for onward transmission to their respective dentist members, as deemed appropriate.

For quick reference, the following materials have been added to the Repository this week. For the complete resource listing, please log in to view. For log in details on how to access the repository, see below.

COVID-19 Data

• COCVID-19 data pack (collection of infographics to easily visualize the latest COVID-19 data)

Financial and Tax Resources

• A free worksheet from Tax Templates Inc. to help Canadian businesses and their advisers calculate temporary wage subsidies (sign up and template delivered via email)

Legal

• Legal commentary about the impact on landlords and tenants under commercial leases

Mental Health and Wellness

• ADA Health and Wellness Program Directory
• ADA: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Stress Webinar
• ADA: Mindfulness Techniques to Help You Reduce Stress – Videos

Provincial Dental Association / Regulatory Body

• ADA&C: Pharmacological management for adults and children
• ADA&C: COVID-19 Dental Emergency Protocol - designed to allow Dentists to properly triage patients.
• ADA&C: COVID-19 Pandemic Emergency Dental Treatment Consent Form
• ADA&C: COVID-19 Pandemic Support Staff Daily Consent Form
• ADA&C: Putting on (donning) PPE
• ADA&C: Taking off (doffing) PPE
• BCDA Algorithm for Non-elective Dental Treatment (log into CDA COVID-19 repository to view)
• BCDA List of clinics fully equipped to handle dental emergency treatment
• RCDSO Update: Emergency screening of dental patients using teledentistry (Mar 26)

Practice Management and PPE Related

• Webinar notes (Word doc.): A staff member of the Canadian Dental Association took notes during a presentation from a marketing firm (www.bigbuzzinc.com) put on by the American Dental Association. Basic take-aways include: 1) develop a cash-flow plan; 2) use the time that the office is shut down productively, especially to reach out to patients in order to retain the relationship.
• Downloadable Practice Management Resources (emergency procedures [dentists]; emergency procedures [patients]; employment agreements; Letter to patients)
• Henry Schein Update: Availability of Personal Protective Equipment (Mar 29)

Research, Journal Articles and Continuing Education

• Utooth.ca: University of Toronto’s online oral health teaching hub. Some courses may now be offered at a discounted rate.
• American Dental Association’s COVID-19 Infection Control Protocols and Procedures Webinar (Earn CE credit)

Repository Access: PDA Executive Directors and CDA Board Members have exclusive access to the CDA COVID-19 Resource Repository via the CDA Board Resource Website: https://boardresources.ca/covid/.

Log-in: Please use your existing CDA Board Resources login credentials to access the Repository. If you have trouble logging in, please email Dean Smith, CDA Manager of Information Technology, dsmith@cda-adc.ca.

Share: To include your organization’s resources in the Repository, please email Zelda Burt, CDA Communications Manager, zburt@cda-adc.ca.

The CDA COVID-19 Response Team continues to work diligently on a range of fronts to help minimize and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the dental profession. CDA is working to address scientific, clinical, economic and business-related matters impacting dentistry, including efforts to increase awareness about the mental health and wellness of dentists, their families and dental office employees during these challenging times. CDA will communicate regular updates as information becomes available.