Dental practices offering emergency services - COVID-19 pandemic

The College is working hard to ensure that patients have access to emergency dental care during this challenging time. 

The patient’s regular dentist, not staff members, should first complete a remote patient screening to confirm the nature of the emergency, before referring patients to an emergency office.

Please contact the emergency office before referring patients. For more information/guidance on emergency situations during COVID-19, click here. 

On our website, you can find a list of dental practices that meet the required safety precautions to perform emergency/urgent treatment. If you wish your office to be added to this list, please be aware of the following mandatory requirements:

• You accept emergency patients other than your own.
• If you perform non-aerosol generating procedures, you must have all the necessary PPE, namely:
• Surgical mask, gloves and eye protection or face shield
• If you perform aerosol-generating procedures, you must have all the necessary PPE, namely:
• FIT-TESTED N95 (or Health Canada-approved alternative) masks, gloves, eye protection, face shield and protective gown
• You must have at least one operatory with floor-to-ceiling walls and a door (or other barrier) that must remain closed during and after such procedures and can withstand repeated cleaning and disinfection.

After emergency patients are seen in person, the dentist must:

• Contact emergency patients 7 to 10 days after providing clinical care.
• Confirm that the emergency has resolved AND patients are not showing any signs of COVID-19 infection.
• Be aware that emergency patients may test positive for the virus some days after their dental visit.

Being placed on the list is at the discretion of the College. As such, requests will be declined from practices in which a practitioner has a regulatory history that may cause concern on the part of a member of the public or a referring dentist. Examples of a regulatory history that may result in the College declining to list a practice include where a practitioner at the practice has a discipline history, an oral caution, a Specified Continuing Education and Remediation Program (SCERP) that is not completed with at least one positive monitoring report, or a pending criminal charge or offence finding.

Please notify the College if you'd like to be on the list by completing this survey. Contact us if your circumstances change and you need to be removed from the list.

If your dental practice is unable to meet required safety precautions, has a practitioner with a concerning regulatory history, or has temporarily closed, you can still help. Consider donating supplies of PPEs and other IPAC resources directly to a colleague on the list of dental practices that are seeing emergency patients.

Alternatively, consider donating these supplies to a local hospital, public health unit, or community health centre.

During this pandemic, all PPEs are valuable and make a difference. Your generosity can go a long way.