COVID - 19 - Threat to Dentistry - How to Overcome?

ABSTRACT

The latest highly contagious disease Covid - 19 has created a havoc all over the world pausing everyone’s normal life and has become a major public health concern. This novel corona virus with human to human transmission has put the world to halt and has become a major concern for all healthcare professionals. Patients infected with COVID - 19 present with dry cough, sore throat, fever and more severe cases exhibit shortness of breath. Loss of smell and loss of taste are other symptoms observed in infected patients. The routes of transmission of Sars - CoV - 2 are direct contact and airborne transmission. Infection by direct contact occurs through close contact of surfaces that are contaminated and subsequent touching of nose, mouth or eyes. Dental practitioners are at a higher risk because of its potential transmission via saliva, water droplets, and aerosols generated during most of the dental clinical procedures. Because of its highly contagious nature, it possesses serious life-threatening problems for both patient and the dentist. Many patients with dental pain and infections approach dental professionals at this time of crisis. Hence, dental professionals must be ready to provide emergency dental services by taking precautionary and safety measures. This COVID - 19 pandemic has posed economic and social difficulties for all including dental professionals. Therefore, instead of restricting dental procedures, it is better to think of tackling the risk of infection by following all the safety procedures and by orienting the dental treatment by taking a more preventive, conservative and less invasive approach. Infection control and management becomes very important in treating patients in the coming months. Hence, use of personal protective equipment, hand hygiene, use of mouth rinses during the procedure, rubber dam isolation, and disinfection of the dental clinic help in reducing the risk of infection to a great extent. This article gives a view of symptoms, routes of transmission, and safety measures to be considered, to overcome the fear of dental practice during this time of high risk and in the coming future.