26
Nov

Risk of dentists being infected with COVID19

Australians, including Dentists, are still generally able to get cover for life and disability insurance with no COVID-19 exclusions as standard at the time of this post.

At the start of the COVID19 Pandemic, some would have assumed that Dental care settings potentially carry a high risk of cross-infection between dentists and patients and among dental staff due to close contact and use of aerosol-generating procedures.

This Canadian study aimed to estimate COVID-19 incidence rates among Canadian dentists over a six-month period. The incidence proportion was estimated to be 1084 per 100,000 dentists while it was 1864 per 100,000 persons in the Canadian population during the same period. The authors noted that the low infection rate observed among Canadian dentists over the period July 2020 to February 2021 is reassuring to the dental and general community.

The authors commented that a lower rate may have been a reflection of an array of interacting factors including but not limited to:

i) pre-procedure screening of patients
ii) adherence to rigorous infection prevention and control (IPC) protocols used during these procedures
iii) public health measures (e.g., physical distancing, masking), and
iv) increased awareness and precautionary behaviour of dentists in general, outside their work place.

Citation And Source : Sreenath Madathil, Walter L. Siqueira, Lina M. Marin, Farisa Banu Sanaulla, Nancy Faraj, Carlos R. Quiñonez, Mary McNally, Michael Glogauer, Paul Allison, The incidence of COVID-19 among dentists practicing in the community in Canada : A prospective cohort study over a six-month period, The Journal of the American Dental Association, 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002817721006589

This is general information and you should not act on it, or rely on it, without obtaining personal advice. Always read the product disclosure statement issued by an insurer before considering to take out insurance. Life insurance and Financial Advice services are provided by Experien Insurance Services Pty Ltd (EIS) ABN 99 128 678 937 and Experien Financial Services Pty Ltd (EFS) ABN 32 631 346 757. EIS and EFS are a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 320626 and No. 1274354) of Affinia Financial Advisers Limited ABN 13 085 335 397 AFSL No. 237857.