A Message for CDA Corporate Member Provincial Dental Associations

Below is a snapshot of the Canadian Dental Association’s (CDA) pandemic work for the week ending October 23, 2020.

This Week’s Fast Facts: COVID-19 Situational Report

CDA’s COVID-19 Team Lead, Dr. Aaron Burry, Associate Director for Professional Affairs, provides a video update on trends and case growth related to COVID-19 across Canada and in other parts of the world. Click on the image below to view the video discussion.

Video Length: 9 minutes. Recorded: October 22, 2020.

Key Points:

• The COVID-19 pandemic remains a fluid situation. Parts of Canada are experiencing significant community transmission.
• At this point in time, COVID-19 caseloads are unfortunately not progressing in the right direction. There are outbreaks in long-term care, childcare settings and in schools, which are driving the uptick in numbers.
• The latest information shows that people who gather in closed, non-clinical rooms (i.e. common areas) are at higher risk of spreading infection. As a result, more staff-to-staff infections are on the rise due to poor ventilation in these gathering areas, individuals taking their masks off, or not adhering to social distancing. These trends have been noted in healthcare settings.
• Take the pandemic seriously and stay up to date. Dental offices should be extra cautious if they are in “hot spot” community transmission areas. Continue to maintain social distancing, both inside and outside the operatory, and keep up with screening protocols as the situation continues to evolve.

Common Area Tips for Dental Offices:

• To help avoid the spread of infection, limit the number of staff in the lunchroom to only one person at a time.
• Staff should always wear a personal mask when at least one additional or more staff members are present in the same room.
• Staff should maintain a 2 metre distance from one another.

A preview of one poster in the Be Vigilant Inside and Outside the Op! series. Colours and text may vary as PDAs may adapt the materials for use by their member dentists. Dentists should be encouraged to use the posters and to discuss the importance of being vigilant with their staff.

Knowledge and Information Broker:

CDA Oasis is CDA’s primary channel of communication for delivering urgent information to the dental community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week’s CDA Oasis Bulletin collated relevant and timely “news that you can use” related to COVID-19.

Reminder! CDA Essentials, Issue 6 is available online. Here are some of the edition’s highlights:

• Starting a Dental Career During COVID-19;
• By the Numbers: Business Recovery from the Pandemic;
• Your COVID-19 Questions Answered;
• Being Vigilant Inside and Outside the Op; and
• Investigating an Increase in Tooth Fractures During COVID-19.

Mental Health and Wellness:

It’s important to safeguard your mental health and overall wellness - especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Access mental health and wellness support through CDSPI’s Members’ Assistance Program (MAP) by calling 1.844.578.4040 or visiting www.workhealthlife.com. MAP provides a variety of resources to help individuals deal with life's challenges. It is a confidential counselling, referral and information service for individuals who are dealing with mental health challenges or need advice on topics such as physical fitness, nutrition or parenting. MAP services and resources are offered through Shepell, Canada’s largest provider of Employee and Family Assistance Programs.

CDA Help Desk:

CDA’s Help Desk continues to assist dentists and dental office employees on how to navigate and access federal government support programs.

For assistance, please call 1-866-232-0385, M-F, 7:30 A.M. – 8:00 p.m. EDT.

CDA COVID-19 Repository at a Glance:

CDA serves as a COVID-19 Repository for Corporate Member PDAs by collecting advice and available COVID-19 resources from external organizations and any sources that PDAs wish to share. The information is placed in the Repository and is exclusively available for use by the PDAs, for onward transmission to their respective dentist members, as deemed appropriate.

For quick reference, the following materials have been added to the Repository this week. For the complete resource listing, please log in to view them all. Login details on how to access the Repository are below.

Dental Schools, Research, Journal Articles and Continuing Education Resources

Sage Journals

• Patient Perceptions about Professional Dental Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Abstract: Dental professionals are at high risk of being infected by and transmitting COVID-19 to patients. Patients’ perceived risk for infection and attitudes about receiving dental care during the pandemic are important to understand as patients consider returning to routine dental care as the pandemic progresses

Mental Health and Wellness Resources

Conference Board of Canada

• Podcast episode 42: Carrying On - Mental Health Strategies for COVID-19. Workplace wellness chat about psychological health and safety.

National Resources

The Conference Board of Canada

• Tech Checkup: Dealing With Technology Change in Pandemic Recovery. (October 19, 2020). Since the onset of the pandemic, a large swath of Canada’s workforce has been working remotely. The Conference Board of Canada surveyed 683 IT leaders and practitioners to understand how Canadian organizations are handling the pandemic. See results.

Provincial Dental Association / Regulatory Body Resources:

British Columbia Dental Association

• Member Update (October 22, 2020): Temperature Screening Concerns, CE Completion Certificates, and more.
• Member Update (October 20, 2020): COVID-19 Second Wave is Here, Dental Staff Recruitment Campaign, Self Care Webinar

Manitoba Dental Association

• Manitoba Dental Association On-Line CE Program (October 19, 2020). Open October 15 - November 15, 2020. Lectures are pre-recorded, access the Lecture Series 24/7! Open to non-members of the MDA. Cost: *For Non-MDA Members: $250 plus GST, which includes access to all six sessions or $50 for individual session. See MDA CE announcement for full details.

New Brunswick Dental Society

• COVID-19 Update (October 22, 2020): For residents of Zone 1 (greater Moncton region), Public Health has deemed this zone can return to the Yellow phase.

Nova Scotia Dental Association:

• NSDA News Brief (October 22, 2020): MSI Children's Oral Health Program Survey; Manitoba Dental Association On-Line CE Program; Wellness Webinar; Message from BlueLight Analytics; Medical Patient and Healthcare Hero Rates; and more.

Ontario Dental Association

• Weekly COVID-19 Update (October 21, 2020): Ontario Extends COVID-19 Orders: Protect Your Practice; Access Government PPE Stockpiles; Ontario Recruiting More Labour Inspectors – Prepare Your Practice; October is Cybersecurity Month – Protect Your Office; Member Access to PPE; Online CE Program from the Manitoba Dental Association; CDA Update
  New! More Top Brands on ODA Supply Hub (October 19, 2020)
• COVID-19 Update: York Region Moves to Modified Stage 2 (October 16, 2020)

Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO)

• RCDSO 2021 Membership Fees (October 19, 2020)
• COVID-19 Update: Province to add York Region to list of "hot zones" (October 16, 2020)

Access to COVID-19 Repository: PDA Executive Directors, Corporate Member Presidents and select staff, and CDA Board Members have access to the CDA COVID-19 Repository via the CDA Board Resource Website.

The link to access the CDA COVID-19 Repository: https://boardresources.ca/covid/.

Log-in: Please use your existing CDA Board Resources login credentials to access the COVID-19 Repository.

If you have trouble logging in, or require a login for someone in your organization who would like access, please email Dean Smith, CDA Manager of Information Technology, dsmith@cda-adc.ca.

Share: To include your organization’s resources in the COVID-19 Repository, please email Zelda Burt, CDA Communications Manager, zburt@cda-adc.ca.

The CDA COVID-19 Response Team works diligently on a range of fronts to help minimize and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the dental profession. CDA is working to address scientific, clinical, economic and business-related matters impacting dentistry, including efforts to increase awareness about the mental health and wellness of dentists, their families and dental office employees during these challenging times. CDA will communicate regular updates as new information becomes available.