Dear Colleagues,

The Chinese Dental Association wishes wishes you a happy Chinese New Year and good luck!

As we all know, we are currently facing the second wave of outbreaks of COVID-19 (Wuhan Pneumonia).

During the period, the number of confirmed cases is increasing significantly. During this period, Minister Dr Chen Shih Chung is leading us to fight with this disease and we as dentists are also honourable. The epidemic prevention team of health institutions is also working hard to fight the epidemic. Here, we must remind the us something.

It plays an important role in controlling the epidemic quickly and effectively. And our dentist is also responsible for this task.

In fact, as a member of the health care system, dentists face the oral cavity directly for treatments.In contact with droplets, we should carefully review the daily routine treatment process, and adjust the practice during this extraordinary period Taiwan Government announced that non-nationals from March 19th, except holding residence permit, diplomatic service certificate, business performance certificate, or other special permits, all entry will be refused, and all entrants will be quarantined at home for 14 days.

The time limit, the command center will adjust the control measures according to the changes in the epidemic situation, in order to control the epidemic situation.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare released on March 16 the "Control Measures for Infection of Primary Hospitals of COVID-19 (Wuhan Pneumonia).The Taiwan Association for Dental Sciences will follow this guideline to recommend that all dentists nationwide as following:

• The frontline staff should first verbally inquire about the main complaint and TOCC (travel history ,Occupation, Contact history, and whether to Cluster, etc.,) Wear surgical masks and implement hand hygiene when inquiring; if a suspected case * is found, it should be diverted immediately.
  Follow the "Recommendations for medical treatment and referral of medical institutions in response to COVID-19 (Wuhan Pneumonia) triage".
  Arrange follow-up referrals; while waiting for referrals, patients should be asked to wear masks and place them in independent clinics. *（1）Meet the case of fever / respiratory symptoms, and have a history of foreign travel or contact within 14 days;
  （2）Clustering of fever / respiratory symptoms
• Reduce workload and only accept appointments or emergency patients. Inform the patient to change the contract in advance and try to appointment in order to avoid crowding in the waiting area.
• Even in an emergency, it is best to ask the patient to make an appointment by telephone early.
• Avoid or reduce the treatment process of generating droplets, use a strong saliva suction device, and wear personal protective equipment Prepare.
• Dentists and dental assistants should be properly protected, using waterproof masks, waterproof masks, goggles, and wear gloves.
• Due to the frequent occurrence of droplets and aerosols during dental treatment, it is recommended if the patient has fever or respiratory symptoms to evaluate whether to delay treatment. If the patient has urgent medical needs, the use of high speed or scaling should be minimized.
  Dental scaling or high speed will spray mist and spray, and should wear personal protective equipment to implemented to reduce the chance of droplets.
• Any non-urgent medical consultation is recommended to change the appointment.
• Patients should be screened before entering the waiting area or treatment area.
• Reject patients or refuse treatment in a timely manner according to professional principles.
• Before and after treatment of each patient, surgical tools or instruments must be fully sterilized and sterilized by autoclave.
  The dental chair and the surrounding surface must be disinfected and used ten minutes.
• Before, during and after all dental treatments, please use mouthwash.
• The public areas of outpatient clinics should be disinfected regularly 3-4 times a day.

Taiwan Association for Dental Sciences will do our best to continue to care about the epidemic situation and provide advice; if there is the latest official instruction. It will also be updated in real time. Members from all walks of life and members of this association are welcome to provide the latest information and feedback.

Wish everything goes to well.