TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving safety in dental practices during the COVID-19 pandemic
AU - Benahmed, Asma Gasmi
AU - Gasmi, Amin
AU - Anzar, Wajiha
AU - Arshad, Mehreen
AU - Bjørklund, Geir
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, IUPESM and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a novel coronavirus, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan and very quickly became a challenging public health problem. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization termed this potentially deadly disease a pandemic due to its rapid spread in various parts of the world, giving rise to international health emergencies. This virus is transmitted from human to human in the form of respiratory droplets, and in specific circumstances, airborne transmission may occur. Additional sources of exposure for dentists include blood and infected sharps. Due to the contagious nature of COVID-19 many health care providers have also been disproportionately affected, such as physicians, dentists, nurses, and paramedical staff. Dentists and dental staff are at high risk of cross-infection due to their nature of work. Therefore, they face a dual challenge in protecting themselves and their patients from infection transmission while ensuring that patients receive urgent dental care. In this review, the authors highlight the epidemiology, modes of cross-infection, and recent data on SARS-CoV-2 related to dental practice. The primary purpose is to make dental health care providers aware of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and to increase their preparedness and understanding of this challenge, which will aid in controlling transmission. The information collected will be useful for the dental community in providing effective patient management through evidence-based recommendations for infection control and disinfection protocols.
AB - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a novel coronavirus, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan and very quickly became a challenging public health problem. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization termed this potentially deadly disease a pandemic due to its rapid spread in various parts of the world, giving rise to international health emergencies. This virus is transmitted from human to human in the form of respiratory droplets, and in specific circumstances, airborne transmission may occur. Additional sources of exposure for dentists include blood and infected sharps. Due to the contagious nature of COVID-19 many health care providers have also been disproportionately affected, such as physicians, dentists, nurses, and paramedical staff. Dentists and dental staff are at high risk of cross-infection due to their nature of work. Therefore, they face a dual challenge in protecting themselves and their patients from infection transmission while ensuring that patients receive urgent dental care. In this review, the authors highlight the epidemiology, modes of cross-infection, and recent data on SARS-CoV-2 related to dental practice. The primary purpose is to make dental health care providers aware of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and to increase their preparedness and understanding of this challenge, which will aid in controlling transmission. The information collected will be useful for the dental community in providing effective patient management through evidence-based recommendations for infection control and disinfection protocols.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Dental practice
KW - Dentistry
KW - Infection control
KW - Patient management
KW - Public health problem
KW - SARS-CoV-2
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122666014&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12553-021-00627-6
DO - 10.1007/s12553-021-00627-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85122666014
SN - 2190-7188
VL - 12
SP - 205
EP - 214
JO - Health and Technology
JF - Health and Technology
IS - 1
ER -