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Dear Licensees,
I am receiving email requests asking for a hard answer if dental offices can "open" on April 13. Dental offices are not closed by the previous mandate. Dentists all over the state continue to see emergency patients as needed, as the Governor's mandate stated. In MN, the peacetime order was until April 13 and will expire. However, the Governor could mandate another order and that is dependent on the behavior of the virus and reproductive rate of the virus within the state. This is a pandemic response and there is no absolute way to know what the future holds. Right now, we are working around the clock to navigate it on a state and national level. Please plan on continued communications. We believe it is critical that patients resume receiving the full scope of dental care.
As a state, we must slow the infection rate by whatever means possible and support front line medical workers. Dental professionals are also on the front line and providing emergency care to patients in need. As a state, we need to support you too. We appreciate all clinics that continue to see emergency needs, so the patients do not re-route to emergency rooms. Please view the additional guidance for infection control when treating emergencies:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/dental-settings.html
Please continue to social distance within the clinic and make sure that patients are being screened. Additional infection control suggestions will come this week. Visit our website under the COVID-19 resources for additional information.
If your license was set to expire this month or April, the Board allows you to practice while expired if you do not have the means to pay for your renewal right now. I am also working on waiving any late fees. We have a 60-day grace period on license renewals.
Licensees will have until their next reporting cycle to fulfill any CE requirements. Although, if you are not working or working limited hours, the UMN Continuing Dental Ed just released 10 hours of free online CE today so check it out if you would like to use this time to enhance your knowledge.
Dentists! (and anyone that wants to) can also now view and complete the no cost Opioid and Non-Pharmacological Pain Management Education that the Board developed. It is on our website under Professional Development.
We are working on many facets right now when it comes to the impact of the pandemic on the dental profession and community.
If you are unable to perform emergency dental services currently, reach out to me! I may have other clinics in your area that can help right now.
As I mentioned previously, we, along with others in the dental community, have a task force with several stakeholders that are working on the various aspects of this response; including patient impact, emergency needs, provider and patient safety, financial impacts, PPE's, and more.
I want to thank each and every one of you that has contacted the Board to provide support during this unprecedented time.
As always please reach out to me with questions. bridgett.anderson@state.mn.us.
Best,
Bridgett Anderson LDA, MBA
Executive Director
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