Hyderabad: In the first-of-its-kind initiative, India’s leading dental health chain,Clove Dental has brought together national and international experts to share knowledge and collaborate to un-lock dental practice in Covid-19 era. The ‘Dental Leadership Masterclass’ will be an ongoing webinar series for dental professionals aimed at raising the standard of dental care during and after this pandemic and to bring to them the opinion of masters of dentistry from across the globe.

The first masterclass of this series which focused on “Redefining Dental Practice with COVID-19” was chaired by three leading professionals of the dental fraternity, Hon. Brig. Dr Anil Kohli, Former President, Dental Council of India; and Dr Eben Van Der Valt, Partner, Portmore Dental, and Dentex and the host Lt. Gen. Dr Vimal Arora, Chief Clinical Officer, Clove Dental. These renowned experts agreed that in the COVID era, there is a need to adapt to the ‘New Normal’ and put in place the practice guidelines keeping in mind the threat and follow them with higher degree of diligence and also adopt practices such as e-dentistry, pre-visit patient counselling and pre -operative patient preparation. These extensive protocols and the additional measureswill make dental clinics very safe during the COVID times.

While sharing his thoughts, Hon. Brig. Dr Anil Kohli, Former President, Dental Council of India called for re-designing of entire approach to dental clinical operations including handling of surgical procedures. “Human race has survived many pandemics in the past and we will this time too. What we need is a holistic approach with an understanding of ground-level situation. 80% of the people globally are back to their work while following the prescribed guidelines strictly. The fear psychosis needs to be tackled effectively.”

Stressing on the need for a safer clinical environment for both doctors and patients, Lt. Gen. Dr Vimal Arora, Chief Clinical Officer, Clove Dental gave a glimpse into the initiatives at Clove Dental. He said, “10xSafety@CloveDental is based on enhancing the existing Clove safety standards and includes new equipment & protocols to ensure a 100% sterile environment. There is only one exposed mouth at a time in a clinic and all aerosols generated during the dental treatment will have to be eliminated by the Aerosol Suction & Decontamination Unit (ASDU). To ascertain 100% sterility, clinics are equipped with Constant Fumigation Device (CFD) that further eliminates any suspended viruses/microbes in the environment. These advancements are in addition to the extensive PPE, staff & patient screening, redefined asepsis & disinfection techniques. UV light, Formalin disinfection chambers, and frequent fumigation in the clinic areas. These steps are an extension of our existing 4-Step Sterilization^TM, responsible bio-medical waste disposal, use of AI-enabled digital technology systems, and our regular in-clinic audits. Dr Arora shared the importance of spending time in training the Dental Assistants the new protocols otherwise they will be prove to be the weakest link in maintaining sterilized environment in the surgery, and emphasized that with right training, the DA will become the pillar of strength for any practice.”

Third speaker, Dr Eben Van Der Valt, Partner, Portmore Dental, and Dentex, who addressed the audience from London (UK) stressed on the need for increased digitization of processes and virtual consultations to lessen the chances of cross-contamination. “There is a need to prioritize patients who require urgent treatment. We have been following a new approach to arrive at the new normal including a platform for communication between team of doctors and with patients. As dental health practitioners, it is important for us to make the environment safer for patients.”

Dr Malika Kohli, from USA shared the rulings of their regulatory bodies and conveyed that most of the dental practices are back to normal with added precautions and urged all dentists to provide holistic care to their patients.

The one-hour long webinar held on 11^th July, 2020 witnessed an insightful discussion way forward for dentistry and generated tremendous responses from the 700 attendees across academia and industry. The webinar was first among the series of other initiatives being developed by Clove Dental to drive awareness around the subject of oral healthcare and its importance in the current scenario.

Clove Dental has put together stringent guidelines and new working protocols with the proprietary 10x safety protocols which makes the Clove Clinics safest and it promised to share the details with every dentist whosoever wishes to bring back the practice to right momentum and provide safe treatment to patients.