What will be the new normal for the dental industry?

Abstract

The COVID-19 situation has seen the cessation of all non-urgent dental care in the UK. Regular practice activity has come to a virtual standstill and the dental industry has seen a very significant reduction in its provision of products and services. There are differing government financial mitigations in place across dental practices for NHS and, to an extent private, activity, as well as for the dental industry. Dentistry is generally classified in the very high-risk category of aerosol production through many aerosol generating procedures (AGPs). To facilitate any move towards the resumption of widespread dental treatment, possibly without mass vaccination or the widespread use of antibody testing, the aerosol issue will need to be addressed and solved. From a dental industry perspective, equipment and product manufacturers and suppliers are building upon, and further developing, the industry's extremely close relationship and partnership with the dental profession, in order to develop and implement new ways of thinking and new approaches, products and techniques to protect patients and clinicians, focusing on a return to the more widespread provision of dentistry.