Biological and social aspects of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) related to oral health

Abstract The expansion of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) throughout the world has alarmed all health professionals. Especially in dentistry, there is a growing concern due to it's high virulence and routes of transmission through saliva aerosols. The virus keeps viable on air for at least 3 hours and on plastic and stainless-steel surfaces up to 72 hours. In this sense, dental offices, both in the public and private sectors, are high-risk settings of cross infection among patients, dentists and health professionals in the clinical environment (including hospital's intensive dental care facilities). This manuscript aims to compile current available evidence on prevention strategies for dental professionals. Besides, we briefly describe promising treatment strategies recognized until this moment. The purpose is to clarify dental practitioners about the virus history and microbiology, besides guiding on how to proceed during emergency consultations based on international documents. Dentists should consider that a substantial number of individuals (including children) who do not show any signs and symptoms of COVID-19 may be infected and can disseminate the virus. Currently, there is no effective treatment and fast diagnosis is still a challenge. All elective dental treatments and non-essential procedures should be postponed, keeping only urgent and emergency visits to the dental office. The use of teledentistry (phone calls, text messages) is a very promising tool to keep contact with the patient without being at risk of infection.

Investigation of Turkish dentists clinical attitudes and behaviors towards the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey study

Abstract Currently, the whole world is under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, and dentists are at high risk. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of precautions Turkish dentists take in dental clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study population consisted of dentists in Turkey. An online questionnaire (23 questions-57 items) was sent to a sample of Turkish dentists from March 16 to March 20, 2020. The questionnaire comprised a series of questions about dentists' demographic characteristics, their concerns, and the measures taken in dental clinics against COVID-19. This study included a total of 1,958 Turkish dentists. A total of 1,274 (65.1%) were general dentists, and 684 (34.9%) were specialists. Five hundred twenty-two (26.7%) dentists attended an informational meeting on COVID-19. Of these dentists, 69.8% were aware of COVID-19 according to their self-assessed knowledge scores. More than 90% of the dentists were concerned about themselves and their families. Only 12% of the dentists wore an N95 mask. Although Turkish dentists took some precautionary measures, they did not take enough precautions to protect themselves, the dental staff, and other patients from COVID-19. As the number of COVID-19 cases increased, the measures taken slightly increased in dental clinics as well. Dentists are strongly recommended to take maximum precautions in the clinical setting. The guidelines about the COVID-19 pandemic should be sent to all dentists by the regional and national dental associations.

Dental Management Survey Brazil (DMS-BR): creation and validation of a management instrument

Abstract Questionnaires for the assessment of knowledge and self-perception can be useful to diagnose what a dentist knows about management and administration. The aim of the present study was to create and validate the Dental Management Survey Brazil (DMS-BR) scale, based on meetings with experts in the field. After having elaborated the first version, 10 audits were performed in dental offices in order to produce the final version, which included nine dimensions: location, patient, finance, marketing, competition, quality, staff, career, and productivity. The accuracy of the instrument was measured by intrarater and interrater reliability. In the validation phase, 247 Brazilian dentists answered a web-based questionnaire. The data were processed using Stata 13.0 and the significance level was set at 95%. The instrument had intrarater and interrater reliability (ICC-0.93 and 0.94). The overall average of respondents for the DMS-BR scale was 3.77 (SD = 0.45). Skewness and kurtosis were below absolute values 3 and 7, respectively. Internal validity measured by Cronbach’s alpha was 0.925 and the correlation of each dimension with the final result of the DMS-BR ranged between 0.606 and 0.810. Correlation with the job satisfaction scale was 0.661. The SEM data ranged between 0.80 and 0.56. The questionnaire presented satisfactory indicators of dentists’ self-perception about management and administration activities.

Os distúrbios osteomusculares e suas consequências para os profissionais da odontologia / Osteomuscular disturbs and its consequences for dental professionals

A odontologia é uma profissão muito vulnerável a riscos ocupacionais, principalmente os relacionados à postura de trabalho. Objetivo: Verificar a prevalência dos distúrbios osteomusculares em cirurgiões-dentistas que frequentaram cursos de pós-graduação de diversas especialidades, estabelecendo possíveis relações com fatores sociodemográficos e ocupacionais, avaliar a percepção dos profissionais em relação aos fatores de risco e correlacionar a dor osteomuscular com a incapacidade funcional experimentada pelos profissionais da odontologia. Metodologia: trata-se de um estudo transversal, no qual os profissionais responderam aos instrumentos validados: "Work-related activities that may contribute to job- related pain and/or injury", NMQ "Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire", " Pain Disability Questionnaire (PDQ)" e a Escala Numérica da Dor. Foram, ainda, coletadas variáveis de caracterização sociodemográfica e ocupacional. A análise dos resultados foi realizada através do programa SPSS - versão 21.0, e utilizou-se o teste de correlação de Spearman. Para comparação de grupos foram utilizados os testes não paramétricos de Mann Whitney e Kruskal-Wallis. Resultados: Do total de cirurgiões dentistas entrevistados (N=94), 90.4% relataram ter experiência de dor osteomusculares e apresentaram risco de dor na região inferior das costas 13.40 vezes maior do que os sujeitos assintomáticos. As regiões mais prevalentes foram: pescoço (58.5%), parte inferior (57.4%) e superior das costas (55.3%), ombros (46.8%) e punhos/mãos (44.7%). Observou-se significância estatística em relação à presença de dor quando o cirurgião dentista encontra-se numa situação ocupacional desconfortável, como por exemplo, trabalhar em posições incorretas ou em locais muito apertados (p-valor 0.005). A média total do PDQ foi de 7.91, para o domínio condição funcional (CF) a média foi de 5.29 e para o domínio componente psicossocial (CP) foi de 2.61. A incapacidade gerada pela dor foi classificada...

Dentistry is a job very vulnerable to occupational risks mainly those concerning work postures. Objective: To verify the prevalence of musculoskeletal disturbs in dentists who are enrolled in post-graduation courses in many specialties, stablishing possible relation with social, demographic and occupational factors; to evaluate the professionals’ perception regarding risk factors and correlation the musculoskeletal pain to the consequent incapacity among dental professionals. Method: In this cross-sectional study the professionals answered to the validated instruments: "Work-related activities that may contribute to job - related pain and/or injury", "Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire" (NMQ), "Pain Disability Questionnaire (PDQ) and the Numerical Scale for Pain. Variables about social, demographic and occupational characterization were also collected. The data analysis was performed using SPSS software - version 21.0 and it was applied the Sperman’s Test. To compare the groups it was applied the non-parametric Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Walis tests. Results: of total (N=94), 90.4% reported that they have experience of musculoskeletal pain, and these dentists showed risk 13.40 times higher to feel pain in inferior part of back than those who had no symptoms. The most prevalent areas of pain were the neck (58.5%), inferior (57.4%) and superior (55.3%) parts of back, shoulders (46.8%), and fists/hands (44.7%). The relation between the existence of pain and uncomfortable occupational postures of dentists was statistically significant, e.g. to work in wrong positions or in strait locals (p-value 0.005). Total average of PDQ was 7.91; on functional condition domain (FC) the average was 5.29 and on psychosocial component domain (PD) was 2.61. The incapacity resultant of pain was classified as moderate by 69.1% of professionals and the other part was classified as no incapacity. Regarding intensity of pain, the average was 1.96 and its intensity was classified as...

Assessing the dental office sign of general dentists in Qazvin

This descriptive study was aimed at assessing the dental office sign of general dentists and compliance with the general standards and criteria. A total of 73 signs from clinics of general dentists in the city of Qazvin [Iran] were examined in 2009. Of 73 signs, 5.47% showed the title of [general dentist], 43.83% displaying the practice of a dental specialty such as surgery, dental prosthesis, pediatric dentistry, and 20.54% demonstrating the practice of four different dental specialties. There was no sign showing the logo of the Iranian Medical Council. However, 97% of the signs were within the standard size of 50x70 cm and 89% with a white background. It seems that the lack of public awareness over the availability of different dental specialties and the distinction between the dental specialists and general dentists, to be among the reasons encouraging the dental practitioners to avoid including the title of [general dentist] on their dental clinics' signs

El dentista mexicano y la recomendación de la Asociación Americana del Corazón para la prevención de la endocarditis bacteriana / The Mexican dentist and the recommendation by th American Heart Association for the prevention of bacterial endocarditis

Con el objetivo de explorar entre los cirujanos dentistas el conocimiento de la recomendación de la Asociación Americana del Corazón (AHA) para la prevención de endocarditis bacteriana (EB), se circuló un cuestinario en una muestra no probabilística de 674 dentistas en la ciudad de México y su zona metropolitana. Resultados: doscientos ochenta y dos dentistas (41.8 por ciento) reportan haber atendido a pacientes con antecedentes de fiebre reumática. El antibiótica reportado como primera opción fue la penicilina G (43 por ciento), seguido de la amoxicilina (33.7 por ciento). Como opción para los pacientes alérgicos a la penicilina, los dentistas que contestaron el cuestionario eigieron la eritromicina en un 85 por ciento y el 11.7 por ciento clindamicina. En cuanto al tiempo previo a la cita que se tiene que administrar el antibiótico, el 46 por ciento lo hace con 48 horas de anticipación, y el 14.5 por ciento una hora antes. La actividad clínica que más se asoció a la necesidad de cobertura antibiótica fue la exodoncia (85.9 por ciento). Conclusiones: los resultados anteriores sugieren que hay un desconocimiento de la última recomendación de la AHA entre los dentistas que participaron en el estudio, por lo que se deben buscar estrategias de actualización que permitan prevenir la posible aparición de EB en los pacientes de riesgo que acuden al consultorio dental

Placa estabilizadora de Michigan e a sensação do zumbido / Full coverage maxillary splint (of Michigan design) and the tinnitus sensation

O autor faz um estudo em 44 pacientes com zumbido, com o objetivo de avaliar, por um período de 8 semanas, a influência do tratamento da síndrome da disfunção muscular e da ATM, através do uso da placa estabilizadora (modelo de Michigan), na evolução da sensação desse sintoma. Os resultados mostraram que os pacientes tiveram melhora significativa na sensação do zumbido, mesmo em casos em que os testes iniciais de limiar auditivo tonal foram positivos. O autor sugere que deve haver uma atenção maior no diagnóstico otorrinolaringológico para com os sintomas da disfunção da ATM e maior cooperação interdisciplinar

Manifestaçöes bucais de origem infecciosa em pacientes HIV-positivos ou com Aids: Parte I - doenças fúngicas / Oral manifestations of infectious diseases in HIV positive or AIDS patients: Part I - mycotic manifestations

A importância das manifestaçöes bucais na era da AIDS, tornou o cirurgiäo-dentista um elemento do time de saúde muito importante no diagnóstico das lesöes mais freqüentes que ocorrem em várias fases da infecçäo ou mesmo da doença. Entre as lesöes causadas por fungos, a candidíase é uma das que merecem redobrada atençäo pois age como um verdadeiro sinalizador da evoluçäo da doença e até do seu prognóstico. Assim säo apresentadas, no presente trabalho, as formas clínicas da candidíase bucal bem como säo comentados aspectos de outros fungos que têm um papel patogênico importante que o cirurgiäo-dentista deve conhecer

Enceramento dos casquetes para retentores com problemas periodontais / Metallic coping's waxing for abutments with periodontal diaseases

Os autores fazem uma revisäo da literatura e analisam o inter-relacionamento Prótese/Periodontia na restauraçäo de dentes com doenças periodontais e chegam às seguintes conclusöes: o protesista e o periodontista devem trabalhar em perfeita sintonia. Todos os esforços devem visar a obtençäo de preparos corretos e restauraçöes sem sobrecontorno, para evitar o acúmulo de placa bacteriana e, ao mesmo tempo, facilitar o acesso à higienizaçäo. Sempre que possível, as margens cervicais das restauraçöes devem ser supragengivais. Por isso, o enceramento dos casquetes deve ser bem planejado