Coronavirus: Canberra dentists' doors back open

Many dentists have begun seeing patients again for the first time in about a month, or expanded their services.

The level two restrictions now in place mean practitioners can perform procedures including examinations, simple fillings and extractions, and orthodontic work.

But nothing that produces an aerosol can be performed yet, which means only manual teeth cleaning can take place.

Canberra dentist Carmelo Bonanno said practitioners were hopeful those restrictions would be eased in the coming weeks.

"Dental practices are no different to other small businesses - often mum and dad owned," he said.

"When predicting these restrictions would go on for six months, people were very worried."

Dr Carmelo, who is also president of the Australian Dental Association, said his practice was busier last week than it had been in the month prior, but was still a long way off business as usual.

"Most people are probably going to put off any sort of cleaning until any restrictions are lifted. So the talk in the industry is people aren't doing cleans at the moment," he said.

"Some people who had previously shut their doors are now coming back to work and performing the basic set of procedures that are permissible. But I am hearing anecdotally some are staying shut."

Dr Carmelo said while the profession was under stress, others were far worse off.

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Dentists' supply of PPE has come under pressure during the pandemic as panic buying and manufacturing problems put a dent in availability.

But Dr Carmelo said changes to distribution methods had eased the pressure, with dentists now able to access supplies needed to keep their practices open.

"Distributors only supply to people who have genuinely run out or are about to," he said.

President elect of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons Ian Meyers said dentists hoped restrictions would be further eased on May 11 to allow for routine cleaning.

He said dentists already had high levels of infection control and would be well placed to resume normal operations.

"Certainly when we moved to level two restrictions it enabled us to do some routine treatments of patients which is great," Dr Meyers said.

"The main thing that is a bit restrictive still is the routine cleaning of teeth - that's a little bit of a concern."

Dr Meyers said the public may avoid long term health impacts from avoiding dental care, due to the limited time restrictions are likely to be in place.

"I'm more concerned about the economic impact of the pandemic- patients may not be able to afford the treatment they may need," he said.