Dental care professionals are very worried by the arrival of new guidelines on infection control, believing that these threaten the accessibility to care and the survival of many dental clinics.
The Order of Dentists of Quebec (ODQ) recently sent its members a document entitled Guidelines: Infection Control and Medical Device Reprocessingreporting new directives on asepsis and sterilization which will have to be implemented in 2023. They were developed with the collaboration of the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ).
In particular, there are updates to the layout of dental offices, sterilization and ventilation. It is important to specify that this project has not yet been adopted by the Order.
Reading the document of more than 80 pages startled several dentists.
“The precautionary principle goes much too far,” observes Dr Carl Tremblay, President of the Association of Dental Surgeons of Quebec (ACDQ).
He points out that the dental care community has no problems with asepsis and sterilization. He believes that several elements of the document should be revised or even withdrawn and that the staggering costs associated with them will have an impact on patient bills.
“There is a heavy administrative side, in addition to the traceability of sterilization which is also heavy and very expensive”, continues Dr Tremblay.
Expensive adjustments
He is also concerned about the repercussions related to one of the directives which requires a specific layout of the sterilization center.
“They ask for very precise configurations of these work areas. […] complying with it may require very expensive or impossible renovations,” argues the president of the ACDQ.
Access to care threatened
Dr Georges Girard, owner of a dental center specializing in implantology, is concerned about the impact on access to care, but also on the profession.
“We already have slightly more complex sterilization systems. However, I will have to bring it up to standard with what the Order requires. We are talking about $20 to $25,000 in investment despite their effectiveness,” he explains.
Drs Tremblay and Girard believe that these directives will lead professionals to close their clinics, take early retirements or live in distress, which threatens access to care for patients.
The ODQ indicates for its part that these standards had not been updated since 2009. Members and associations were able to give their comments on them.
It is currently analyzing these comments, in order to continue its representations with the INSPQ, in order to define the standards applicable in dental offices.