Dental Protection is calling on the Government to prioritise dentists and dental teams to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
Dentists are especially at risk of exposure to Covid-19, given the nature of the treatment they provide. The new Covid-19 variant is 70% more transmissible and poses a greater threat.
Dentists are one of the group of workers most exposed to the virus as they work in such close proximity to the patients mouth and undertake aerosol producing procedures.
Raj Rattan, Dental Director at Dental Protection said:
“Dentists in Ireland are committed to providing the highest standard of clinical care to their patients. It is vital that they and their teams be prioritised in the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, so that they can continue to provide the necessary care to their patients in a safe environment.
“We urge the Government to work with the HSE to confirm the plans for vaccination of dental professionals, without further delay.
“Dentists always put the interests of the patients first; it is now up to the Government and the HSE to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of dentists, their teams and their patients, is treated as a priority.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
About Dental Protection
Dental Protection is a registered trademark and a trading name of The Medical Protection Society Limited (“MPS”). MPS is the world’s leading protection organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals. We protect and support the professional interests of more than 300,000 members around the world. Membership provides access to expert advice and support and can also provide, depending on the type of membership required, the right to request indemnity for any complaints or claims arising from professional practice.
Our in-house experts assist with the wide range of legal and ethical problems that arise from professional practice. This can include clinical negligence claims, complaints, medical and dental council inquiries, legal and ethical dilemmas, disciplinary procedures, inquests and fatal accident inquiries.
Our philosophy is to support safe practice in medicine and dentistry by helping to avert problems in the first place. We do this by promoting risk management through our workshops, E-learning, clinical risk assessments, publications, conferences, lectures and presentations.
MPS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MPS are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.