TELEDENTISTRY GUIDELINES
INITIAL CONTACT
Patient calls the office with a dental emergency.
The office staff will do initial screening by asking basic questions and make the patient aware of how the virtual consultation works.
SCREENING QUESTIONS
Please keep in mind that some of these questions will be asked again by the dentist to confirm or clarify information that is given.
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Any pre-existing medical conditions?; Allergies?.
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Where is the pain?
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How long have you been in pain?
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How severe is the pain from 0-10?
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Are you taking any medications for the pain? Is it helping?
ENLIGHTENMENT
We are currently conducting virtual consultations via phone, or video using a platform like Zoom or facetime. After the consultation, the doctor will determine if your condition can be managed with homecare or Over the Counter measures or you must be scheduled for treatment in the office. The goal is to minimize the risk of Covid-19 transmission for the patient and the doctor while we find the safest possible way to perform dental treatment. But all emergencies will be given an appointment as needed for reevaluation with the doctor once we open our office.
Virtual consultations are reported and billed through your insurance using specific codes that have been created for remote or virtual consultation.
At this point, gather insurance information from the patient and verify eligibility. If no insurance, make the patient aware of the copay for remote/virtual consultation.
PRE-ASSESSMENT
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Go over medical history, conditions, allergies
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Retrieve and review existing dental records
ASSESSMENT
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Where in your mouth is the pain?
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When did the pain start?
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What is the intensity from 0-10? 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain of you’ve ever experienced
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Nature of Pain: continuous, on and off, sporadic, sharp, dull. ache, pressure, defined, dissure, referred etc
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Any sign of tooth decay, breakdown or fracture, gum swelling, bleeding
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Any medications being taken.
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Screenshots (Can be billed as extraoral photographs)
PLAN
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Palliative homecare measures recommended (Cold/hot compresses, soft diet, rinses, OHI)
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Prescription (Pharmacy name, address, cross street)
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Schedule Phone Follow up (24h, days, weeks)
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Schedule Tentative office appointment.
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Referral to specialist or Primary Care Doctor
REPORT
Send the patient a breakdown of the services provided
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
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We cannot prescribe medication or treatment for someone who has not filled out the patient forms.
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In light of the Covid-19 outbreak, we are asking any patient that has an appointment that refrain from coming to the office if they have any cold/flu symptoms whether they are related to Covid-19 or not. If you have obvious symptoms you will be rescheduled and will need a clearance from your PCP stating that the condition is no longer contagious. In case you develop cold/flu symptoms we will continue monitoring your dental health through remote consultation measures.
LINKS
Oscar Marin DDS.
omarindds@gmail.com