POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ON DENTAL SERVICES

Oral health is essential to overall health, well-being and quality of life. A

healthy mouth enables people to eat, speak and socialize without pain,
discomfort or embarrassment. The main oral health problems are dental
caries (tooth decay) and periodontal disease (gum disease). These two
oral diseases are so widespread that 87% of our people are suffering
from tooth decay and 48% have gum disease. (2011 NMEDS Survey).
The combined ill effects of these two major diseases (except oral
cancer) weaken bodily defense and serve as portal of entry to other
more serious, potentially dangerous and opportunistic infections
overlapping other diseases present. In the young, pain from untreated
dental diseases can lead to eating, sleeping, speaking, and learning
problems in children and adolescents which affect child’s social
interactions, school achievement, general health, and quality of life. The
Municipal Health Office is committed in providing quality dental health
services to the community of New Washington. Furthermore, this office
shall be guided and implement strictly the following DOH policies:
- AO 101 s. 2003 dated Oct. 14, 2003- National Policy on Oral
Health.
- AO 2007-0007 dated January 3, 2007- Guidelines In The
Implementation Of Oral Health Program For Public Health
Services In The Philippines.
- AO 3 s. 1998- Revised Rules and Regulations and Standard
Requirements for Occupational Dental services in the Philippines.
- AO 4-A s. 1998- Infection Control Measures for Dental Health
Services
OBJECTIVES:
1. To prevent oral diseases, improve, restore and maintain the oral
health of the community;
2. To provide dental services that are accessible to everybody’s
needs;
3. To evaluate and treat dental emergencies via dental treatments,
prescriptions, consultations or referrals;
4. To decrease the incidence of caries by prescribing fluoride
supplements, the application of topical fluoride treatment and the
application of pit and fissure sealants when indicated;
5. To educate parents and children on the appropriate oral care and
the importance of a healthy nutritional program;
6. To introduce children to the dental clinic as early as possible;
7. To integrate oral health with overall health.

DENTAL SERVICES PROVIDED:

• Dental Consultation
• Oral Examination
• Oral Health Instruction and Advice
• Supervising Tooth Brushing Drills
• Topical Fluoride Therapy
• Pits and Fissure Sealant Application
• Dental Extraction
• Dental Restoration
• Eugenol Treatment
• Gum Treatment
• Suture Applied for Emergency Dental Treatment
• Dental Certificate
• Tooth removal (extraction)
QUALITY DENTAL SERVICES
The dental service provider shall maintain quality services at all times
which includes:
• Updated Information and Properly Promulgated Dental Services
Schedule
• Efficient Patient Flow
• Competent Dental Health Staff
• Infection Prevention and Control in Dental Setting
• Functional Dental Instruments
• Secured and Complete Individual Treatment Record/ Electronic
Medical Record
• Functional Referral System

DENTAL SERVICES SCHEDULE

Dental health services are available to preschool-aged children,
pregnant mothers and other adults to prevent and manage dental
diseases.
The dental health team shall be composed of the following:
1. Dentist- performs tooth examination and tooth extraction
2. Dental Aide- assists dentist during dental procedure
3. Assigned Health Staff- takes patient’s vital signs and
communicate to the dentist outside their work schedule
Currently, the Municipal Health Office has two (2) competent and active
dentists that are available with the following schedule:
• Wenia Regaladao, DMD – Tuesday and Friday
• Tiffany Quimpo, DMD – Monday, Wednesday and Thursday
Dental health services start from 8:00AM daily and cater a maximum of
10 patients per day.
PATIENT FLOW
1. Patient gets number from the security guard.
2. Patient fills-up personal data in the dental form.
3. Patient’s vital signs are taken by the assigned health staff.
4. Dental consultation done by dentist on duty.
5. Dental procedure is done if warranted by dentist on duty.
6. Dentist prescribes medicine if needed.
7. Encoder types patients details to the iClinicSys.

INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL IN DENTAL SETTING

It is essential that all patients with communicable infections disclose
their status to their dentist as part of the medical history to ensure safe
and effective oral health care is provided. All patients should have
access to oral health care regardless of their blood-borne or other
infectious disease status. Members of the oral health team are obliged
to keep their knowledge and skills current regarding the diagnosis and
management of infectious diseases that may be transmitted in the
clinical setting. They must adhere to standard precautions. These
measures include:
1. adopting the principles of cleanliness and disinfection of all
exposed surfaces in the work environment;
2. following protocols accepted and/or recommended by relevant
authorities for the decontamination, disinfection, sterilization,
ventilation and reprocessing of reusable instruments and disposal
of clinical waste;
3. assuring that sterile instruments are protected from
recontamination by using an appropriate sterile barrier system;
4. using single-use instruments where required;
 5. exercising special care with the use of sharps and contaminated
material; removing them from the work area after use and
disposing them in a clearly labelled puncture-resistant container
with traceability of disposal;
6. adopting disinfection principles for devices, prostheses,
impressions, instruments and applicable items transported to and
from the dental area;
7. handling biopsy specimens with care and placing them in leak-
proof containers according to the recommended guidelines;
8. designing (new) dental clinics that ensure good air ventilation and
sufficient air exchange rates to facilitate infection control.
All dentists and members of the dental team:
1. to be physically protected (surgical respirators, masks, gloves,
visors/face shields, protective eye wear and outerwear) as
appropriate for the care being provided and the level of risk;
2. to be knowledgeable about, and protected from, health problems
occurring from the use of enhanced personal protective
equipment;
3. to be appropriately vaccinated against infectious diseases as a
priority, according to current guidelines issued by the relevant
authorities;
4. immediately initiate appropriate assessment to determine the
need for post-exposure testing and prophylaxis following
occupational exposure to blood-borne pathogens, including HBV,
HCV and HIV;
5. to be personally aware of signs and symptoms which indicate the
possibility of blood-borne and other infectious diseases, and
receive the necessary diagnostic tests when infection is
suspected.
 6. to comply with medical advice and relevant regulations regarding
continuation of, or limitations to, clinical practice, in particular that
of exposure prone procedures if a blood-borne viral infection is
diagnosed.
7. to be alert and triage/screen for signs and symptoms of blood-
borne and other infectious diseases in their patients;
8. to advise all patients with a relevant medical history of the need
for referral to the most appropriate health care provider
commensurate with their disease status or condition suggestive of
infection. Patients should receive appropriate evaluation and
treatment in a supportive environment with full regard to privacy;
9. to have an appropriate protocol, in accordance with applicable
relevant laws, for the confidential handling and sharing of patient
information;
10. to inform patients of the applicable privacy policy in all settings
where dental care is delivered;
11. to share information pertaining to the patient’s medical condition
with other health workers as permitted by relevant regulations and
with the patient’s consent;
12. to educate patients regarding various aspects of blood-borne
and other infectious diseases in the context of the management of
oral diseases.

REFERRAL SYSTEM
The clinic will provide referral information for patients who need higher
level of dental care, emergency services during hours when the facility
is closed, when the services needed by the patient is not present and
when service provider (dentist) is unavailable. Strict implementation of
referral system protocol shall be done. Patients will be referred to
another dental provider that is as geographically close as possible and
that is open at those hours. This referral information will be in a written
communication that is made available to patient preferred service
provider.

Prepared by:

JOHN WILBEN M. LUNA, MMHA, RN

Nurse I

Noted by:

DR. DAYSTAR S. SEDILLO

Municipal Health Officer