Op-Ed: In the current crisis, our profession has an opportunity to demonstrate its essential value – and its values
By Carlos Quiñonez, associate professor and director, graduate specialty program in Dental Public Health
Many of our offices – including the Faculty’s clinics – are closed to all but emergency procedures, but that does not mean our services are not essential, or that we have no part to play in the current crisis. Now is the time to demonstrate that we are a caring profession. And now, more than ever, dentistry needs to demonstrate its value.
1. Provide information
We demonstrate our value by letting the public know why our office doors are closed. We need to get out the message to our patients, but also the general public, that our practices are shut not because we are non-essential or inconsequential, but because we are trying to mitigate the risks to our patients, our families and our communities in the context of a highly infectious disease. If you have set up any type of social media page, now would be a great time to provide credible information to your patients and the public, with resources available from our regulators and dental associations. Keep in touch electronically with your patients, if you aren’t already, and let them know where emergency dental services can be accessed.
2. Donate equipment and supplies
We are fortunate, as a profession, to have access to PPE. As the province and the country becomes stretched for these resources, we need to be thinking about the greater good – and circulating as much of this vital equipment as we possibly can. We can demonstrate our value to society by donating our supplies. Fill out the recent request by the Ministry of Health regarding our PPE inventories as soon as possible, and, remember, it’s not optional, we all must do it.
3. Volunteer
Beyond our equipment and supplies, we can donate our expertise and our training, which are both adaptable and translatable. The federal and provincial governments have created websites to recruit volunteers. Should the pandemic worsen, we may be asked to help administer care, whether directly or in supporting roles, such as the intricate work of contact tracing, which we know is a critical tool for combatting COVID-19.
4. Help your community
If you are able to, give to food banks or other charities. Donate funds to hospitals. Do what you can to help sustain our communities at such a difficult time. This is the very definition of dentistry: to ease suffering and to promote health and well-being. While I know how many in our community are already altruistic, we can play an even bigger role now, when we are needed the most.
5. Open your doors
When all of this is over – and it will be over, someday – I encourage each of you to open your doors to any and all patients, regardless of their ability to pay for treatment. As we emerge from our homes and ease back into practice, there will be many patients who have been unable to see a dentist for months and who are suffering more for it. Many will have been out of work, or have been on severely reduced salaries, or facing considerable debt loads due to this global health crisis. You will be needed.
On a final note, I want to remind you that it is in crisis where the test of one’s metal is made. And in crisis, there is also opportunity. Dentistry is a self-regulated profession because it is a caring profession – the two are one in the same. So, let’s not forget about why we became dentists in the first place: to help, and to care about those in need. Let’s not forget about the opportunities to show we are essential as we move forward into the challenging days ahead.
Photo: Dr. Carlos Quiñonez (Jeff Comber)