A local dentist says he doesn’t yet know how he can be expected to safely reopen his business.
Pádraig Ó Reachtagáin of Castle Street Dental Practice in Roscrea has been speaking as the Irish Dental Association calls for clear direction from the government and NPHET on the matter.
There are serious concerns that the level and amount of PPE and other equipment needed will be very costly.
Speaking on Tipp Today earlier, Dr Ó Reachtagáin said the science isn’t there yet either to support decisions they make:
“When I do something for a patient, I know that somewhere in the background there’s a rule that’s been proven to solve this problem or to treat the patient and to treat the patient safely – also to ensure we don’t encounter difficulty along the way.
“Now we dentists are like deer in the headlights. We don’t know what to do because no.1 there are no rules, and there are no rules because we don’t have the science basis to make the rules.
“Everybody is afraid.”
Continuing, Dr Ó Reachtagáin said he feels there just isn’t enough known about the virus just yet:
“Our risk for our staff is what we have to protect ourselves for. And if we can protect our staff, we know we’re protected ourselves. That now throws us back into the science thing.
“We don’t know whether this bug lives in the air that we generate and when we use a drill in a patient’s mouth or when the patient coughs or spits out – all the things that happen well inside our social distance of two metres for the dentist and their nurse.”
