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Due to the ongoing enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), only people buying basic necessities and those with medical emergencies are allowed passage in quarantine control checkpoints.

Consequently, only a few dental clinics have resumed operations and they will only be servicing those with dental emergencies.

This move is also part of the safety measures taken against the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), as dentists or orthodontists are at great risk of getting infected with the virus, since it spreads through droplets expelled by infected people when they sneeze, cough, and breathe.

Dentists and orthodontists will only be servicing patients with dental emergencies

So, to ensure that there won't be overcrowding in dental clinics and that they can observe proper physical distancing, only emergency cases will be entertained.

But, what exactly will be considered as dental emergencies? The American Dental Association (ADA) has developed guidelines and recommendations on what to consider dental emergency cases.

What dental emergencies should be accommodated during the ECQ?

And according to ADA, these are the examples of emergency cases in need of urgent dental treatment:

• Severe dental pain from pulpal inflammation.
• Pericoronitis or third-molar pain.
• Surgical postoperative osteitis or dry socket dressing changes.
• Abscess or localized bacterial infection resulting in localized pain and swelling
• Tooth fracture resulting in pain or causing soft tissue trauma.
• Dental trauma with avulsion or luxation.
• Dental treatment cementation, if the temporary restoration is lost, broken or causing gingival irritation.
• Extensive caries or defective restorations causing pain
• Suture removal
• Denture adjustments on radiation/oncology patients
• Denture adjustments or repairs when its function is impeded
• Replacing temporary filling on endo access openings in patients experiencing pain
• Snipping or adjustments of an orthodontic wire or appliances piercing or ulcerating the oral mucosa

So, if in general, you are not experiencing pain and your dental concern is more of an aesthetic issue, it's best to postpone going to a dental clinic for a checkup until the ECQ is lifted.

For more lifestyle content, head out to GMA's Lifestyle page.

For more news on the Coronavirus Disease pandemic, go to GMA Network's COVID-19 page.

For updates regarding the enhanced community quarantine, visit GMA's ECQ page.

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