Oral health and regular dentist visits are key to our health. When oral health is neglected it can have significant impacts upon are general health. Despite this dental healthcare is still largely exclude from the Medicare. After the far reaching and devastating effects of COVID-19 oral health and dentistry have since adapted to this new normal and this article will go through a few of these changes.
Throughout the pandemic Australia and other countries went through a number of lockdowns or varying degrees. In Australia, lockdowns went in stages with different levels having varying degrees of restrictions. Throughout this time dental practices were effectively closed and only allowed to see emergency patients. With practices being closed and visits restricted the service lost, supply was also reduced with it.
The closure of practices lead to oral health neglect. Casey Dentists in Townsville state that When the dental visits where restricted many people put their issues on the burner and since restrictions have eased have failed to follow-up on the problem. Dental visits haven’t returned to pre-covid levels and we are starting to put less emphasis on our oral health. This is expected to put a greater strain on the hospital system and regular dental visits are used as a preventative measure to diagnose and treat issues before they become serious.
The rise of teledentistry. With restrictions at an all time high may businesses and industries took to the web to communicate remotely. This also extended to the dental industry with teledentistry. Teledentistry is the use of information technology and telecommunications to consult, educate and delivery primary dental care. Even though there were some regulation challenges faced by teledentistry, it seems like it will stay even after COVID-19 has left. It has implications in remote and rural communities where health care is limited and a teledentistry consultation can be used to identify the seriousness of a cases and advise on the best action to take.
Like many industries COVID-19 has caused some big changes for dentistry, but still as a part of the healthcare industry it’s experience was unique. The changes have had far reaching implications of health care in general and some positive changes are likely to stay.
