professional impact C D A J O U R N A L , V O L 5 0 , Nº 2
Impact of COVID-19 on Dentistry Anders Bjork, MBA
AUTHOR Anders Bjork, MBA, is vice president of strategic intelligence and analytics for the California Dental Association. In this role, he performs a variety of primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative research projects to help inform CDA’s leadership in decisions regarding the organization’s strategy. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None reported.
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any superlatives have been used to describe the global impact of COVID-19.1 Suffice it to say that probably no entity was able to avoid at least some impact from the pandemic; and of course for many, it has fundamentally and permanently changed their lives and businesses. The ongoing economic impact of COVID-19 will undoubtedly be felt for years — if not decades — to come. Some types of businesses benefited during this time, perhaps from unexpected demand for their products or a unique distribution feature that was deemed safer during the pandemic versus traditional offerings.2 However, the vast majority of companies that depend on direct interaction with customers suffered tremendous and longlasting economic damage. Health care was especially impacted for obvious reasons; most care is provided personally, clinician to patient, and many patient-provider care interactions increase the possibility of viral transmission. As experts began to evaluate the transmission mechanism of the COVID-19 virus, an early focus was to determine which medical procedures and disciplines had higher risk factors so as to be able to advise clinicians and their patients as to what nonemergent care could still be provided during the pandemic. As virologists studied SARSCoV-2, they determined that the spread was principally through aerosolized droplets emitted by an infected person’s respiration, coughing, sneezing and/ or touch.3 Therefore, much of the focus
of risk categorization then turned to an understanding and mitigation of risk in understanding aerosol-generating procedures.4 Those involved in dentistry and the support of the dental profession immediately understood that the impacts to patient care would be high given the frequent and widespread use of dental equipment known to create aerosols in the dental practice including but not limited to ultrasonic scalers, high-speed dental handpieces, air/water syringes, air polishing and air abrasion.5 The subsequent focus was to understand what personal protective equipment (PPE) could be used to allow patient care to continue while minimizing risk of transmission between staff and patients.6 For dentists, understanding how to safely treat patients during the pandemic — and indeed have patients feel safe about getting routine care — was the highest priority to address.
Economic Impacts
As the timeline of COVID-19-related events covered elsewhere in this issue describes, the guidance given to dentists by the American Dental Association (ADA) in mid-March 2020 was to postpone elective dental procedures and only see emergency patients.7 The ADA’s guidance was based on and developed from information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evidence-based recommendations.8 Similarly, on March 19, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) expanded the shelter-in-place order for FEBRUARY 2 0 2 2
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