CLEVELAND dental practice Oracare want to donate surgical masks to those in need as stores sell out of the product during the COVID-19 crisis.
The clinic has already given masks away to STAR Community Transport drivers and are looking to help other organisations, namely nursing homes, that are struggling to provide protection for their staff and clients.
Oracare director Dr Thao Doan said they had about 1000 unused masks left over as government restrictions meant doctors could only treat emergency patients.
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"I had patients coming in that couldn't get their hands on masks anywhere," Dr Doan said.
"Now we are in a position that we have a lot of masks sitting here.
"We are on level two restrictions, which means we are seeing patients with an emergency only.
"We are not allowed to do any kind of dentistry work at all, it is only infections and pain we are allowed to manage."
Dr Doan said the clinic would open to all patients when advice from the department of health changed but they were unsure when that would take place.
"We are rescheduling patients for June but then again, we will just have to wait and see what our instructions are when that time comes," Dr Doan said.
"Basically now we are here to advise. If someone is in pain we try to get them out of pain."
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