Coronavirus restrictions are preventing many patients from seeking urgent advice from their regular dentist, today the Australian Dental Association (ADA) issued a new item number on the Australian Schedule of Dental Services and Glossary to allow for telehealth consultations.
ADA President Dr Carmelo Bonanno says, “With this new item number, patients will be able to seek advice either with videoconferencing or by phone from their dentist – without leaving their homes.”
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Dentists have been restricted in the last couple of weeks with the types of procedures they can perform and only do so after they have cleared patients who have little to no risk of being exposed to the virus.
The new item number is intended to be used for exceptional circumstances where patients are unable to visit their dentists in person.
“Consultations in this way are not meant to be a replacement for your normal preventative checks – it’s for patients with an acute event such as toothache, broken tooth or damaged dentures or swelling or bleeding from their gums,” says Dr Bonanno.
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Private health insurers are urged by The ADA to support the introduction of this new item number by ensuring that patients with an eligible health insurance extras policy can claim a rebate against this number.
Dr Bonanno says, “The Australian Government has made it very clear it supports a ‘whole of population’ health approach to telehealth so we’re hopeful that it will be shortly including this capability for patients eligible under the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Dental and the Child Dental Benefits schemes who need urgent assistance from a dentist.”
