Having shut shop for more than two months, most city dentists are now charging extra to make up for their losses. Even after having opened their clinics, dentists are barely seeing any patients owing to COVID-19 fears among people, resulting in scant business for the doctors. To add to their woes, disinfectants, PPE kits, sanitising instruments after every use, and other safety measures are costing them dearly too. Many have decided to wind up practice since running their clinic in a rented outlet has become completely unaffordable.

Dr Manish Guri and his wife Dr Avani, practicing at their Ghatkopar clinic for two decades, told mid-day that COVID-19 continues to scare people. "Ninety per cent of dental work is done on dental aerosol, which according to Indian Dental Association (IDA) and Dental Council of India (DCI), should be used minimally along with high-speed drilling machines to restrict the spread of infection. This makes the situation very challenging for us," the couple said, adding that most dental clinics are in a small area of around 150 sq feet, and the guidelines insist on maintaining safe distance. There is also mandatory thermal screening, mask, head cap and gloves for patients, COVID-19 history recording, PPE kits and N95 masks for dentists, no walk-in patients, etc, which means additional expenses. "I have no choice but to shift the cost on to my patients, who have already come down from 15 a day to four in two to three days. I will have to increase my fee by almost 25 per cent." Dr Guri said. Another problem for dentists is differing guidelines from the IDA, DCI and the Ministry of Health, and Family Welfare (MOHFW). "A week before the lockdown started (March 23), we were told to only attend to emergency cases," the dentist added.