Volume 9 • 2022 • Issue 1

DENTAL DIGEST T he Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) revised its COVID-19 Directive #1, which sets out requirements for health care providers in the province. The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) issued a notice on December 22, 2021, advising dentists of the implications of this CMOH revision, including that: • Dentists must don a fit-tested, seal-checked N95 respirator (or the equivalent, as approved by Health Canada) for all in-person patient interactions and for the provision of all direct clinical care. • Dentists must ensure that all staff don a fit-tested, seal-checked N95 respirator (or the equivalent, as approved by Health Canada) for all in-person patient interactions except where there is a physical partition or barrier between office staff and patients. • Dentists and staff who are not yet fit-tested for an N95 respirator must don a well-fitted surgical/procedure mask, a KN95 respirator, or a non-fit-tested N95 respirator (or the equivalent, as approved by Health Canada). Dentists must make reasonable efforts to ensure that all staff who are not yet fit-tested for anN95 respirator obtain fit testing at the earliest opportunity. Then in January, the CMOH revised its Directive #2 to preserve health system capacity by stopping or deferring procedures that risked placing further strain on ICU resources or that used health human resources that could be redeployed to ICUs. To comply with Directive #2, the RCDSO issued a notice on January 6, advising Ontario dentists to cease: • any non-emergent and non-urgent major surgical procedures (e.g., osteotomies) that carry a substantive risk of resulting in the use of emergency medical services or other hospital services • any non-emergent and non-urgent sedation and general anesthetic procedures requiring a sedation or anesthetic team (i.e., parenteral moderate sedation, deep sedation and general anesthesia). Routine dental procedures and services performed by dentists and dental hygienists in community settings were not affected by the CMOH Directive #2. The use of nitrous oxide and oxygen sedation, oral minimal sedation and oral moderate sedation were also permissible, as they do not require a sedation or anesthetic team. Updated Guidance on N95 Respirators and Health Care Capacity in Ontario Product Recall: Equate Dry Mouth Oral Rinse H ealth Canada issued a recall notice in January for Equate Dry Mouth Oral Rinse due to possible microbial contamination. The recalled products (UPC #6-28915-5812-3) may have the presence of the microorganism Klebsiella pneumonia . Health Canada advised consumers to stop using the recalled product and dispose of it. The affected lot number of 0430552 is located on the bottom of the bottle above the expiry date. As of December 22, 2021, the company had received no reports of incidents or injuries in Canada. See: rcdso.org/en-ca/rcdso-members/dispatch-magazine All Health Canada recalls, advisories and safety alerts for consumers and health professionals can be found at: recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en The RCDSO plans to release updated guidance documents in early 2022. 19 Issue 1 | 2022 |