Dentists were smiling with relief when the government announced that coronavirus restrictions would be eased on clinics from next week.
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The restrictions will go from Level Three to Level Two, which means that patients can get more serious treatments done as well as examinations, fillings, and hand-scaling jobs.
The news comes as a great relief to Kooringal Dental dentist Cherian Thomas, who said there was a backlog of patients that needed attending to.
He said the scale-back was a good sign that Australia was winning the war against coronavirus, especially as the curve flattens and the country gets a handle on the situation.
"I'm expecting a bit more restrictions going to be eased down as the time progresses, and our country should be the first one to get on top of it," Dr Thomas said.
"Maybe at the end of the first or second week of May we will be going back to Level 1 restrictions or less than that, for sure."
Dr Thomas is fairly confident in his prediction, having bet that Australia would go back to Level 2 by the end of April long ago.
He said Australia had done a good job of responding quickly to the coronavirus, and he is optimistic that life could start regaining some normalcy in the coming weeks.
"It's looking good because of the testing situation and the rapid resource turnaround, especially in Wagga where we have been fortunate to contain the spread," Dr Thomas said.
"I don't think Wagga is having much of a community spread not even close, but I don't want to take it for granted."
In other news:
Australian Dental Association Carmelo Bonanno said the changes would make a huge difference to patients who had been stuck on waiting lists, which could lead to deteriorating dental health in some cases.
"It's great news because it means dentists can open their doors again and attend to a broader range of patient needs and not just emergencies," Dr Bonanno said.
"We look forward to the complete return of all dental services further down the track."